Remotely controlled photovoltaic string combiner

ABSTRACT

A remote-controlled photovoltaic string combiner is described that selects strings to be combined to a first photovoltaic output circuit or to a second photovoltaic output for the purpose of either controlling the charging of a battery connected to the first photovoltaic output circuit or for diverting current to a diversion load such as a grid-tie inverter. Strings are selected by energizing relays from one or other inverter such that when neither inverter is operating, all strings are deselected and both photovoltaic output circuits are de-energized.

This Application is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/062,884, filed Oct. 24, 2013, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,735,703,which was a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/103,070,filed May 6, 2011, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,937,822. ThisApplication claims priority to both patents, and both patents areincorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to DC-to-AC converters for electric powersystems. Lower cost, high-power, efficient, DC-to-AC converters are ofinterest for solar energy economics. In the prior art, DC-AC invertersare the second highest cost item next to the photovoltaic panels. Forhigh efficiency and low heat dissipation, commutation of DC to produceAC preferably uses solid state switches that are either fully on orfully off, and do not dwell more than a microsecond or so in anintermediate state. Therefore it is more complicated to produce a sinewave that takes on all values between the negative peak and the positivepeak. On the other hand, producing a square wave which switches betweenthe positive peak and the negative peak produces a form of AC that isnot suitable for all loads.

Various manufacturers provide prior art DC-AC converters, that fall intoone of a few broad classes and operating modes. The class of “modifiedsine wave” converters maintains both the same rms and the same peakvoltage as a sine wave, while still employing only on-off commutation.This is done by switching the voltage between the desired positive peak,zero and the negative peak, spending 50% of the repetition period atzero, therefore achieving both the same peak and the same rms values asa true sine wave, and being compatible with a greater variety of loads.

Still, there are loads that do not tolerate the modified sine wave; forexample appliances that present inductive loads, such as inductionmotors, some cellphone and laptop battery chargers, fluorescent lampsand tumble dryers, and any device with an internal power supply thatuses capacitive reactance as a lossless voltage-dropping means, canmalfunction on modified sine waveforms. Moreover, there is a potentialproblem with radio and TV interference due to the high level ofharmonics of the modified square wave converter. Such a waveform istherefore not a candidate for coupling solar-generated power into theutility network or into house wiring.

“True sine wave” is another class of prior art DC-AC converter. Linearamplifiers provide the absolute cleanest AC power waveforms, but theirinefficiencies cause high heat dissipation in converters of severalkilowatts capacity. Moreover, linear amplifiers lose efficiency rapidlywhen operating into non-unity power factor loads. Some sine waveinverters overcome the problems with linear amplifiers by usingdigitally-synthesized waveforms, which are multi-step approximations toa smooth sine wave. One example of a step-approximation sine waveinverter is the XANTREX (formerly Trace) SW4048.

In U.S. Pat. No. 5,930,128 by current Inventor, a power waveformgenerator was disclosed that involved expressing the sinusoidal waveformas a series of numerical samples in a number base comprising a pluralityof digits; selecting corresponding digits from each numerical sample andgenerating therefrom a waveform corresponding to the sequence of eachdigit, then using combining means to form a weighted combination of thedigit-corresponding waveforms, the weights being chosen in relation tothe numerical significance of each digit. For example, using a ternarynumber base, the weighting means would add the digit Waveforms in theRatios 1:⅓: 1/9 and could for Example be a Transformer with these turnsratios.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,373,433 also describes using series connected,turns-ratio weighted transformer coupling of 3-level waveforms toproduce a 27-level step approximation to a sine wave. The principledescribed therein is similar to that used in the aforementioned XANTREXSW4048 inverter. The combining means disclosed in the '128 patent forcombining digit-corresponding waveforms was, in a low-frequency case, aseries connection of transformers having turns ratios in the ratios ofcorresponding numerical digits, and in a high-frequency case, compriseda set of quarter wave lines having characteristic impedances in theratios of corresponding digits.

In a device built in accordance with the '128 patent, theseries-connected transformer is the appropriate version for 60 Hz, as ¼wavelength lines are impractical at 60 Hz; however, the transformersneeded for the inventions of the '128 and '433 patents represent asignificant fraction of the total cost and weight of medium-powerconverters, and also account for a few percent loss in total efficiency.Therefore, other solutions that avoid the disadvantages and pitfalls ofthe above prior art would be useful, and in particular, a solutionavoiding these low-frequency transformers would be a benefit.

Transformerless inverters are known in the prior art, particularly forutility-interactive inverters, which use high-frequency switching orpulse width modulation to approximate a sinewave. However, adisadvantage that arises in these prior art converters is the impositionof the high-frequency switching waveform on the solar array, which cancapacitively couple through the glass cover upon touching it,potentially causing RF burn to personnel or damage to the solar panel,as well as causing the solar array to radiate substantial radiointerference. Thus a design is required that can create a more benignvoltage fluctuation on the solar array DC conductors.

Another categorization of convertor relates to whether they are designedto power loads directly, or whether they are designed to feed and sellpower back into the electricity grid. A load inverter that can powerloads directly is said to operate in standalone mode, and is also calleda “standalone inverter”, while a grid-tie inverter is said to operate ingrid-interactive mode and is also called a “grid-interactive inverter”.

For safety and other reasons, the latter have to meet differentspecifications than the former, especially under fault conditions. Inparticular, a load inverter should be a constant voltage source, while agrid-tie inverter does not have a constant voltage output but must adaptto the voltage of the grid, and is a current source. Moreover, a loadinverter is always used with battery storage, and should maintainefficiency at both light and heavy loads and have low no-load powerconsumption, so that the battery is not discharged while the inverter isidling at night. Grid-tie inverters however do not have the same arequirement for no-load power consumption, as they do not operate atnight.

A complete alternative energy installation may thus comprise a number offunctions, including load inverters, grid-tie inverters, load managementfor manually or automatically transferring load between the utility andalternative energy supplies, storage batteries, battery chargers,circuit breakers, surge protectors and other safety devices to protectequipment and wiring and eliminate the risk of electrical mishaps underconceivable fault conditions. Other than the inverters and the arraythese additional components are known as “balance-of-system” components.

For high power grid-tie installations, typically 20 kw and above,3-phase inverters are preferable in order to keep the gauge and cost ofwiring down and to assist in maintaining balance between the threephases of the electricity grid. For converters over 100 Kw, 3-phase isoften mandated by the utility company. Three phase inverters using pulsewidth modulation are known from the art of solid state Motor Drives, butthey are not suitable for grid-interactive use for many reasons, andMotor Drives do not need or have ground leak detection on the DC bus,which is internal.

The total cost of balance-of-system components required in aninstallation can be significant; therefore it is an objective of thisdisclosure to describe novel designs of inverters, safety devices andautomatic load management devices that provide a more efficient and costeffective complete installation, and which achieve cost reductions inthe electronics to complement the currently falling cost of photovoltaicpanels.

SUMMARY

New methods and apparatus for the conversion of DC power to AC power aredisclosed herein, together with smart energy management technology toprovide an efficient ‘green’ energy installation. In a firstimplementation, a novel DC to AC convertor comprises a waveformgenerator based on expressing the desired output voltage waveform as aseries of numerical samples in a number base, each sample beingexpressed as a plurality of digits in the number base; one or morehigh-frequency, bidirectional, isolating DC to DC converters to convertinput DC power at a first voltage to a series of relatively floating DCoutput voltages, the floating voltages being in the same ratio to oneanother as powers of the number base; switches connected to each of thefloating DC supplies and controlled according to a corresponding digitof a numerical sample to generate a corresponding floating outputvoltage waveform, the floating output waveforms then being directlyconnected in series to form the desired power output waveform having adesired repetition frequency thereby eliminating the need for furtherlow frequency transformers or other weighting means. In a preferredembodiment, one of the DC voltages may be chosen to equal the inputsource voltage so that no isolating DC-DC convertor is required for thatsupply. Preferably it is the supply from which the greatest averagepower is drawn, which is typically the highest supply voltagecorresponding to the most significant digit of the given number base.The DC source, which may be a solar-array-charged battery, is configuredto allow its positive and negative terminals to be alternatelyinterchanged so that the positive and negative terminals are alternatelyconnected to the grounded neutral conductor, or reference potentialterminal, which facilitates detection of ground leakage faults in the DCcircuit using an AC ground leak detector. While one of the DC inputconductors is connected to the ground, neutral or reference potentialterminal, the other DC input is routed to and processed by circuitswhich produce the desired output waveform, such as a sine wave, that isoutput from at least one live or “hot” AC output terminal.

A second implementation couples power produced by a solar array into theelectricity grid. In a single-phase, grid-interactive inverter accordingto the second implementation, a switch connects the negative terminal ofthe solar array to line neutral and thus to ground, or else to areference potential terminal, when the required output to the utilitygrid hot leg is instantaneously positive, and a second switch, which isinhibited from operating at the same time as the first switch, connectsthe solar array positive terminal to line neutral and thus to the groundor reference potential terminal when the required output to the utilitygrid hot leg is instantaneously negative. Third and fourth switchesalternately connect or disconnect the solar array terminal not connectedto line neutral to or from smoothing and inverter hash filters supplyingat least one AC output terminal that is connected to the utility hotleg, the pattern of connects and disconnects being determined by a highfrequency digital waveform generator such as a delta-sigma modulator,pulse-width modulator or similar, such that the current delivered to theutility approximates a sinusoidal current with low harmonic content. Thewaveform generator timing is controlled such that the power delivered tothe utility substantially equals the solar power available from thearray, and such that the delivered current is substantially in-phasewith the utility voltage. Output relays connects the inverter to theutility only when certain conditions such as utility voltage limits,array voltage limits and utility frequency limits are satisfied. Whenthe relays are not connecting the inverter to the electric utility,energy originating from the photovoltaic array may be used for otherpurposes, such as charging a battery for operating a load inverter. Theutility connection may be made via a two-pole AC GFCI breaker such thatany ground fault on either solar array terminal throws the breaker andisolates the array, preventing electrical mishap. Thus the secondinverter configuration may be used alone in grid-interactive mode, ormay be used together with the first inverter implementation and arechargeable battery in order also to provide utility backup in theevent of a power outage. Such a bimodal installation may be programmedto prioritize battery charging, and when fully charged, excess solararray power is then fed to the electric utility via the grid-tieinverter.

A three-phase grid-tie inverter according to the second implementationis also described. The three phase inverter comprises switches toconnect the negative of the DC source, to one of the set of three phaseoutput terminals for the whole of the period during which it isinstantaneously negative relative to a mean voltage or to a ground,neutral or reference potential, while the other terminals of the set ofAC output terminals are zero or relatively positive compared to themean, ground, neutral or reference potential terminal, alternating in arotating sequence with connecting the positive of the DC source to onethe set of three phase AC output terminals for the whole of the periodduring which it is instantaneously positive relative to the mean,ground, neutral or reference potential and the other terminals of theset of AC output terminals are zero or relatively negative to the mean,ground, neutral or reference potential. The AC output voltages from eachof the set of AC output terminals has a unique phase, which, in the caseof two AC output terminals may be zero and 90 degrees, or, for three ACoutput terminals, may be 0, 120 and 240 degrees, while in a single phasecase the unique phase is simply 0 degrees.

A common characteristic of the inventive converters is that acommon-mode AC signal is created in-phase on both the positive andnegative DC input terminals and on all DC conductors. The AC signal isof the same frequency as the AC output in the single phase case, threetimes the AC output frequency in the three-phase case, and two times theAC output frequency in a quadriphase (0 and 90) case. A ground leakagefault in the DC circuit is thus detectable by detecting an AC leakagecurrent at this characteristic frequency, which is technically mucheasier than detecting a DC leakage current.

A smart load management center is also described which can selectivelypower each load or branch circuit either from the load converter, whensolar or battery power or other alternative energy source is sufficient,or from the utility supply. The smart load center may be end-userconfigured to prioritize which loads are preferentially powered from thealternative energy source, and may be configured to permit deeperbattery charge-discharge cycles in utility back-up mode only during thehopefully very infrequent utility outages, than when utility power isavailable, thus maximizing the life of the battery before replacement isneeded. The smart load center also has provision to shed load in aprioritized order during a prolonged outage when limited solar energy isbeing received.

A solar combiner is normally a simple junction box for connecting theoutputs of several solar panels or strings of panels in parallel. Whenstrings are connected in parallel, it is desirable to use blockingdiodes such that a shaded panel does not rob current from the total.Many combiners ignore the potential for differential shading and omitthese diodes. An advantageous solar combiner is described thatselectively transfers the output current of each string to a firstpriority load, such as battery charging, a second priority load, such asa grid-tie inverter, or disconnects both loads. The solar combinerdescribed may thus be controlled to progressively increase or decrease abattery charging current while diverting current not used for batterycharging to a grid tie inverter or other diversion load. Bydisconnecting all strings from both battery charging and the diversionload, the solar combiner also provides a local and/or remote-controlledDC disconnect function. In residential installations, DC wiring from asolar array is required by the NEC to be enclosed in metallic conduit upto the first DC disconnect. By providing a remote DC disconnectfunction, the combiner described can be located right at the solararray, for example attached to the inside of the attic roof behind aroof-mounted array. By this means, the internal wiring need not be inmetallic conduit. The solar combiner communicates with the inventiveload convertor, which monitors battery state, in order to provide abattery charge controller function.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a top-level block diagram of a DC-AC load converter

FIG. 2 shows a bidirectional DC-DC converter

FIG. 3 shows a floating H-bridge for commutating a floating DC supply

FIG. 4 shows the waveforms of four ternary digits over a repetitioncycle

FIG. 5 shows waveforms of the 120 volt H-bridge and on the DC supply

FIG. 6 shows a common mode hash filter

FIG. 7 shows details of the transient response of the common mode hashfilter

FIG. 8 shows an RFI filter used to suppress high frequencies on theoutput

FIGS. 9A and 9B show the difference between a correct and an erroneousRFI filter

FIG. 10 shows more detail of a load inverter design according to theinvention

FIG. 11 shows the start up circuit for limiting inrush current

FIG. 12 shows the output sinusoidal waveform from an inventiveconverter.

FIG. 13 shows the output spectrum from the converter before RFIfiltering

FIG. 14 shows the converter output noise spectrum after RFI filtering

FIG. 15 shows the principle of a single-phase grid intertie inverter.

FIG. 16 shows the principle of a 3-phase grid intertie inverter

FIG. 17 shows a complete solar installation for grid-interactive useonly.

FIG. 18 shows a complete solar installation using a standalone inverter.

FIG. 19 shows a bimodal solar electric installation

FIG. 20A Equivalent circuit of a photovoltaic (solar) cell

FIG. 20B shows the I-V characteristics of a solar panel

FIG. 20C shows temperature dependence of solar panel characteristics

FIGS. 21A, B and C show the DC-DC converter waveforms for reducingstandby current

FIG. 22 shows the outline schematic of a smart load center

FIG. 23 Shows three phase waveforms

FIG. 24 shows another arrangement of a 3-phase grid intertie inverter

FIG. 25 shows a modified doublet and core flux waveforms.

FIG. 26A shows a vector diagram of a generator back-feeding the grid

FIG. 26B shows the vector diagram for rectifier mode

FIG. 27 shows a remote-controlled solar combiner and DC disconnect

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIG. 1, a DC-to-AC conversion apparatus according to afirst implementation comprises an input (100) for a floating DC powersource, for example 120 volts DC from ten 12-volt rechargeable batteriesconnected in series; a pair of output terminals (150) for the AC output,one of which may be connected to the grounded conductor or neutral ofthe AC load; a bidirectional DC-DC converter (110) for converting the DCinput to a number of floating DC output voltages, and a set of reversingswitches 120 a-120 d controlled by opto-isolated driver circuit 200.While one of a pair of single phase power conductors is normally agrounded neutral conductor, the inventive converter may alternativelyprovide a floating output relative to an arbitrary reference potentialterminal. The bidirectional property of the DC-DC convertor 110 impliesthat power may instantaneously flow in either direction at any pair ofinput or output terminals. If the current flows out of a positiveterminal, the direction of power flow is “out”, while if current flowsinto a positive terminal, the direction of power flow is “in”. The DC-DCconvertor is of a substantially lossless, switching type, implying thatall power that flows in must come out, although the convertor mayoptionally contain energy storage capacitors such there may be aninstantaneous imbalance between input and output power according as thecapacitors are accumulating or releasing energy. In this example, it isassumed that the inverter output waveform to be generated is representedas a sequence of numerical samples, each numerical sample value beingexpressed with four digits in the ternary number system, e.g.(T4,T3,T2,T1), wherein each digit Ti (i=1 . . . 4) can only take on oneof the three values −1, 0 or +1. In correspondence with the placesignificance of the different ternary digits, a number of floating DCsupplies are generated with ratios 1:⅓: 1/9: 1/27. Assuming a 120-voltDC input source, The floating DC supplies generated by converter 110 aretherefore 40v, 13.33v and 4.44 volts which are respectively ⅓rd, 1/9thand 1/27th of the nominally 120 volt floating DC power source. The sumof the DC input and all outputs of the DC-DC converter is120+40+13.33+4.44=177.77 volts. This is the peak voltage that could begenerated at the AC output (150), and corresponds to a useful sine waveoutput voltage of 125.7 volts rms. If necessary, all the voltages can bescaled to produce other output voltages, for example 100v, 115, 120v,125 v, 220v etc, while still maintaining the power-of-3 ratios betweenthe floating supply voltages. Other voltage outputs or waveforms (withinthe maximum available peak voltage of all DC supplies added together)may alternatively be generated by choosing the appropriate sequence ofternary digits. For example, the invention could be used to produce anoutput waveform for driving a vibration table for mechanical testingpurposes, the waveform being either non-repetitive, or having a desiredrepetition frequency.

Other number systems than ternary could be used; for example, the binarynumber system could be used, or the quaternary number system could beused in which digits take on the values −3, −1, +1 or +3. However,ternary is of slightly lower component complexity per waveform step andis therefore the preferred choice.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 1, the floating DC input and the floatingoutputs from DC-DC converter (110) each feed respective polarityreversing switches 120 a, 120 b, 120 c and 120 d. The outputs of theswitches are directly connected in series to the AC output 150, so that,by either inverting the selected polarity of each DC supply or not, ornot selecting it, in accordance with a respective one of the ternarydigits T4,T3,T2,T1, the series-connected output can be any of the 81values(120T4+40T3+13.33T2+4.44T1) volts.

For example, if all switches select the positive polarity, the outputvoltage will be 120+40+13.33+4.44=177.77 volts. If however the 4.44 voltswitch is controlled to feed straight through, the output voltage willbe 120+40+13.33=173.33 volts.

If the 4.44v switch is controlled to reverse the polarity, the outputvoltage will be 120+40+13.33−4.44=168.88 volts. By appropriate controlof the switches therefore, any output voltage between −177.77 and+177.77 volts in steps of 4.44 volts. can be produced. It is importantto note that, when a DC source polarity is selected to oppose the outputvoltage and therefore the current flow, power is feeding backwards intothe DC-DC converter, which must therefore be of a bidirectional designusing for example synchronous rectifiers.

It is a significant advantage to arrange that the voltage correspondingto the most significant ternary digit, or from which the greatest poweris drawn, comes directly from the DC input, and does not pass throughthe DC-DC convertor, as the DC-DC convertor then only has to convert theremaining fraction of the total power. Most of the AC output power thencomes directly from the DC input source, which improves the totalconversion efficiency.

In order to generate a 60 Hz step-approximation to a 125.7 volt rmssinewave, the switches are controlled to select sequentially among the3⁴=81 possible voltage levels from −177.77 to +177.77 volts and backagain, repetitively in the proper sequence and at the proper times. Onecycle therefore comprises nominally 2×81 voltage steps, so that thenumber of level changes per second is approximately 2×81×60=9720. Thisis somewhat rapid for mechanical switching means such as relays, rotarycommutators or cam-actuated contacts, but is well within the capabilityof semiconductor switches which can operate 100 times faster than therequired speed. The full H-bridge of N-type power MOSFETs shown in FIG.3 is the preferred switch. Referring to FIG. 3, four N-type MOSFET powertransistors labeled Tr(a), Tr(b) Tr(c), Tr(d) are connected between theDC input +ve terminal and the −ve terminal. By turning on transistorsTr(a) and Tr(d) while turning off transistors Tr(b) and Tr(c), the DC+ve input is connected to output pin 163 while DC −ve input is connectedto output pin 164. Conversely, by turning on transistors Tr(b) and Tr(c)while keeping transistors Tr(a) and Tr(d) off, the DC +ve input isconnected to output terminal 164 while the DC −ve input is connected tooutput pin 163. A pass-though state is created either by turning ontransistors Tr(a) and Tr(c) while holding Tr(b) and Tr(d) off, whichconnects the DC +ve input to both output terminals 163 and 164, or byturning on transistors Tr(b) and Tr(d) while holding Tr(a) and Tr(c)off, which connects the DC −ve input to both output terminals 163 and164. These two pass through states both give zero voltage output betweenterminals 163 and 164, but differ as to which polarity of the floatingDC input is connected to the output terminals. Both pass-through statesare used in the invention at different times.

A MOSFET is turned on or off by applying a positive or (negative orzero) voltage between its gate and its source. Since the sources of theupper MOSFETs Tr(a) and Tr(c) of the H-bridge are connected to differentones of the H-bridge outputs, and the sources of the lower two MOSFETsTr(b) and Tr(d) of the H-bridge are connected to the negative of the DCsupply, three different relatively floating supplies are required forthe gate drivers IC(a), IC(b), IC(c) and IC(d). IC(b) and IC(d) may usethe same gate driver supply, but IC(a) and IC(c) create separatesupplies using bootstrap diodes D1 and D2 to charge capacitors C1 and C2respectively. Further discussion of bootstrapping may be found in FIG. 4of Intersil Application Note AN9324.4 dated March 2003, by George E.Danz.

Due to the reference potentials for the gate drivers being different,even within the same H-bridge, all gate drivers are preferablyopto-isolated. A preferred opto-isolated gate driver is Fairchild partnumber FOD3180. An opto-isolator comprises a light-emitting diodeilluminating a phototransistor. When current is passed through the lightemitting diode at its input, the output will be enabled. Since it isimportant that TR(a) and TR(b) should never be turned on at the sametime, as this would short the DC input, this is rendered impossible byconnecting their gate driver input LEDs back-to-back. Likewise the gatedriver input LEDs for TR(c) and TR(d) are connected back to back. Acontrol input 161 is conditioned by two inverting AND gates to produceopposite polarity output signals which connect through resistors R3 andR4 to the LEDs of gate drivers IC(c) and IC(d). A logic 0 at pin 161will enable IC(d) to turn on TR(d) and switch TR(c) off. A logic 1 atpin 161 will enable IC(c) to turn on TR(c) and switch TR(d) off. A logic0 at input pin 162 will produce logic 1's at both NAND gate outputs andthus no current will flow in either LED, turning both TR(c) and TR(d)off. The latter state is useful for fast shutdown upon fault events.

If the H-bridges of FIG. 1 are controlled according to a fixed timing togenerate step approximations to a sine wave, the output voltage willsimply be proportional to the DC input voltage, e.g. 125.7 volts RMS outfor 120 volts DC in, or 104.75 volts RMS output for 100 volts DC input,or 146.65 volts RMS out for 140 volts DC input. The range 100 volts DCto 140 volts DC represents the range of voltages that could be producedby 60 lead-acid cells in series between the two extreme states of (a)substantially fully discharged and (b) fully charged and receiving abulk or absorption charge. It may not be desirable to allow the ACoutput to vary so much over this range of DC input voltages.Accordingly, a method is used to maintain more constant AC outputvoltage in the face of varying DC input. Instead of controlling theswitches in a fixed timing sequence, a controller determines the time atwhich a sine wave output of desired amplitude passes from being nearerone voltage step to being nearer an adjacent voltage step, given theactual DC supply voltages, and may control the switches to change fromthe previous voltage step to the adjacent voltage step at the determinedtime. A simple implementation of the foregoing comprises pre-computing asequence of switching times for each of a number of possible sub-rangesof the DC input voltage; for example, a first series of switching timesfor the range 100-110 volts; a second series for 110 to 120 volts; athird series for 120-130 volts, and a fourth series for 130 to 140volts. Moreover, the series of switching times can be computed to give anominal output voltage of 120 volts RMS instead of 125.7 volts. Thismethod of determining a series of switching times to produce a constant120 volt AC sine wave output with various DC input voltages may beextended to operate over the DC input voltage range 100 to 327 volts. At327 volts, the 170-volt peak value of a 120v rms AC sine wave isproduced with a 4-digit ternary number of 1,−1,−1,−1, which illustratesthat the highest voltage H-bridge still makes its maximum voltagecontribution of 327 volts, but with the other three H-bridgesbacking-off this voltage by −109 volts, −36.3 and −12.1 voltsrespectively. Under these circumstances the highest voltage H-bridge isonly contributing current for short periods at the very peaks, so themajority of power flow passes through the DC-DC converter, reducingefficiency and maximum output rating. For such a converter, thespecification should indicate an efficiency and a maximum power deratingfactor as a function of input voltage. Input voltage ranges up toperhaps 200 volts may still be accommodated however with most of theoutput power coming directly from the DC input and only a fraction beingsupplied by the DC-DC converter, and therefore without significant lossof efficiency or power derating. Utilizing the extended input voltagecapability is one way to construct a bimodal system using the same arrayvoltage for both the grid-tie and the standalone modes, as will bedescribed later.

The above example of an extreme DC input voltage of 327 suggests anotherpossible variation of the inverter. When the highest H-bridge voltage is327, the second highest is 109. This suggests that an inverter could beconstructed wherein the input voltage was the second highest floating DCsource, and the bidirectional DC convertor generated floating outputs of3 times, ⅓rd and 1/9th of the input. Thus it is possible to design aninventive converter for a nominal 96-volt battery, which would power thesecond highest voltage H-bridge directly, and the DC-DC converter wouldgenerate 3×96=288 volts, 96/3=32 volts, and 32/3=10.67 volts for theother H-bridges. Each inverter design thus should be optimized for anintended range of DC input voltages. When the DC input voltage isoutside the design range, a fault detector may apply a logic zero to pin162 of FIG. 3 and to a corresponding pin on the other half of theH-bridge and to all H-bridges, thus instantly halting operation of theconverter until the input voltage lies consistently within the designrange once more.

FIG. 12 shows the output sinusoidal waveform from the converter producedby controlling the switches in the proper sequence, when the DC input is126 volts (a fully charged, 60-cell lead acid battery) and the desiredAC output is 120 volts rms. For 60 amps AC output (7.2 kilowatts ofoutput power), DC-to-DC convertor (11) supplies only watts of the totalpower, the remainder coming directly from the 126 volt DC input via onlyH-bridge 120 a, which switches at only 60 Hz. Switching losses aretherefore negligible for the bulk of the power flow.

The use of floating DC supplies of 120, 40, 13.33 and 4.44 volts to theinputs of the H-bridges, plus the use of opto-isolators to isolate thepower MOSFET control lines means that the outputs provided from theH-bridges are also floating, and can therefore be joined in seriesdirectly, that is without further coupling means or weighting means, toprovide an output voltage of 120×T4+40×T3+13.33×T2+4.44×T1 where(T4,T3,T2,T1) is the four ternary digit representation of the desiredinstantaneous output voltage from the converter. The ability to join theH-bridge outputs in series directly confers the benefit that theinventive DC-AC convertor scheme requires no 60 Hz transformers, whichreduces weight in particular, but the main benefits are reduced cost andsize and improved efficiency.

If the DC input voltage is not 120 volts, but in general is denoted byVdc, then the formula for the instantaneous output voltage isVdc·(T4+T3/3+T2/9+T 1/27).

For a greater number of digits than 4, for example n digits T1 . . .T(n), the formula for instantaneous output voltage isT(n)+T(n−1)/3+T(n−2)/9+ . . . T⅓^((n-1))

times the DC input voltage if the direct current source voltage is thegreatest of the floating DC supplies or alternatively3T(n)+T(n−1)+T(n−1)/3+ . . . T⅓^((n-2))

times the DC input voltage if the direct current source voltage is thesecond greatest of the floating DC supplies, or even more generally3^(m) [T(n)+T(n−1)/3+T(n−2)/9+ . . . T⅓^((n-1))]

where the power m is zero if the highest voltage is directly equal tothe DC input voltage; m=1 if the DC input voltage is the second highestof the floating supply voltages; m=2 if the DC supply voltage is thethird highest if the floating supply voltages and so forth.

FIG. 4 illustrates the behavior of the four ternary digits T4,T3,T2,T1when generating a 120-volt RMS AC output when Vdc=126 volts, as was usedto produce the output waveform of FIG. 12. For this particular input andoutput voltage, it may be seen that the desired peak voltage of120√2=169.7 volts is approximated with T4=T3=1 and T2=R1=0, giving126(1+⅓)=168 volts. This is nearer 169.7 than the next higher step of172.44 with T4=T3=T1=1 and T2=0. Thus small changes in the DC inputvoltage may require substantial changes in the waveform to maintain anabsolutely constant 120 volt RMS output; however such accuracy is notrequired and a finite number of precomputed waveforms may be used aspreviously described.

Some hysteresis in selecting the best waveform can be provided so as toprevent the converter nurdling, which describes the sound of periodicchanges in inverter hum when inverters alternate between differentwaveforms. In any case, a selected waveform is used for at least anentire cycle to ensure symmetry between the positive and negativehalf-cycles and to ensure zero net DC bias on the output.

FIG. 4 also illustrates that the most significant DC supply voltage isnot used (i.e. T4=0) around the zero crossings of the sine wave. ThusH-bridge 120 a is programmed to the “pass through” state when T4=0. Inthe pass through state, either the DC input positive line or the DCinput negative line is connected to both outputs of H-bridge 120 a. Itis deliberately chosen that one H-bridge 120 a output provides theneutral or grounded conductor output of the converter while the hot legis provided by the end of the series H-bridge string, i.e. from anoutput of H-bridge 120 d. This results in either the DC input positiveline or the negative line being connected to neutral (the groundedconductor) in the pass through state. By choosing to form the passthrough state by connecting the positive DC input to neutral in thepass-through period following a positive half cycle where T4 waspreviously equal to 1, and choosing to form the pass though state byconnecting the negative of the DC supply to the neutral/ground after anegative half cycle when T4 was equal to −1, the waveform on each DCinput terminal is a symmetrical square wave ranging from 0 to +120 onthe positive terminal alternating with 0 to −120 on the negativeterminal. Each DC input terminal may therefore be described as having avoltage of 60 volts DC mean with a 60 Hz, 60 volt peak square wavesuperimposed. When connected to a solar array, such a configuration isin conformance with the NEC electrical code (2008) providing a warninglabel is attached indicating that both terminals of the array and DCcircuit are ungrounded and thus hot. An appropriate color code forwiring to the array is black for negative and red for positive, as bothcolors are standard colors for AC hot legs.

When the above-described pass-through states are used, the resultingcommon-mode square wave on the DC inputs will be slightly phase-shiftedrelative to the AC output. If the square wave shall be in phase with theAC output, then the pass though state of H-bridge 120 a can be createdby connecting the positive DC input terminal to neutral/ground for thefirst half of the pass through state after T4=1 and connecting thenegative of the DC input to neutral/ground for the second half, andvice-versa for the pass through state following T4=−1. In this way, thesquare wave positive-to-negative transition coincides with the zerocrossings of the AC output, as shown in FIG. 5. At time T1 on the left,the AC output is negative and the most significant ternary digit equals−1, and the DC supply +ve line is connected to neutral via MOSFET Tr(a).Accordingly the TR(a) drive waveform is at a logic 1 level,corresponding to MOSFET Tr(a) being ON. When TR(a) is ON, TR(b) must beoff to avoid shorting the DC supply, which is guaranteed by connectingtheir opto-isolator LED's back-to-back. As the AC output rises towardszero, the most significant ternary digit goes to zero at time T2. Atthat point TR(c) is turned on and Tr(d) is turned off so that apass-through state is created while leaving the DC positive lineconnected to neutral. The AC output goes through zero at the center ofthe period during which the ternary digit is zero at time T3. Tosynchronize the common mode AC component on the DC supply lines with theAC output, the negative of the DC input shall now be connected toneutral instead of the positive, while maintaining a pass-through state.Thus Tr(b) turns on, and Tr(a) off, while simultaneously Tr(c) turnsback on and Tr(d) turns off. This results in the negative of the DCinput being connected to neutral and also the H-bridge output isconnected to the DC supply so that there is no net voltage supplied tothe output, in conformity with the most significant digit still beingzero

At time T4, the most significant ternary digit becomes +1. At that pointthe negative of the DC input is left connected to neutral while theH-bridge output shall be connected to positive. Thus Tr(c) and Tr(d)change state. The situation now remains constant until the ternary digitnext goes to zero at time T5, whereupon Tr(c) and Tr(d) change stateagain to create a pass-through state. At time T6 in the middle of theperiod during which the ternary digit is zero, Tr(a) and Tr(b) changestate requiring Tr(c) and Tr(d) also to change state to maintain thepass through state until time T7. At time T7, Tr(c) and Tr(d) changestate to deliver a negative voltage to the H-bridge output when the mostsignificant ternary digit becomes equal to −1. The just-describedsequence then repeats indefinitely from time T8.

If an inverter is designed in which the supply voltage (100) is not thegreatest of the floating supply voltages, then the common-mode waveformcaused on the DC inputs will no longer be a simple square wavecorresponding to the most significant ternary digit, but will have awaveform determined by the lesser significant ternary digit associatedwith the lesser supply voltage. Likewise, if the invention is used toproduce other waveforms for other applications, then a more complexcommon-mode waveform related to the sequence of a particular ternarydigit is induced on the DC conductors. When such a waveform is used asthe probe signal for ground leak detection on the DC conductors, it maythen be beneficial to detect leakage current using a correlator thatcorrelates for that particular waveform.

To obtain a sine wave output voltage, controller 200 of FIG. 1represents the sine wave as numerical samples expressed in the ternarynumber system. When using a finite number of digits, it might benecessary to approximate the desired output voltage by the nearestternary combination, and there are many ways in which an approximationcould be constructed. For example, a ternary digit can be jitteredbetween two adjacent values on successive instants of a high-frequencyclock in order to approximate an intermediate value. This method ishowever reserved for a variation in the inverter design in which one ofthe ternary digits, e.g. the least significant digit T1, could beomitted, along with the associated components and the 4.44 volt floatingsupply, the value of T2 then being jittered between adjacent values at ahigh frequency so as to create a mean voltage between the 13.33 voltsteps, thereby reducing component count. A low-pass LC interpolationfilter is then connected at H-bridge 120 c output to smooth thewaveform. Frequent switching can be a source of additional switchinglosses, however switching only a low voltage supply such as 13.33 voltsproduces much less switching loss than jittering the 120-volt supply. Asecond approach is to choose the nearest ternary approximation to thedesired instantaneous output voltage at a sequence of successive,equi-spaced time intervals generated by a sampling clock. Yet anotherapproach, which is the preferred approach, is to keep the ternary valuefixed as long as it is the nearest approximation to the exact voltage,and to increment it or decrement it to the next adjacent value only atthe instant that a different value becomes the nearest approximation.Storing the approximately 81 time-values of this sequence of switchinginstants requires much less memory than storing the ternary digits atall 32768 clock instants.

One method of producing the ternary digit sequence is as follows: Letcontroller 200 comprise a crystal reference oscillator running at2¹⁵×60=1,966,080 Hz. The oscillator clocks a 15-bit divider to produce a15-bit address to a 32768×16-bit Read Only Memory (ROM) containing theprecomputed waveforms required on the FET control lines of the H-bridgesduring one 60 Hz cycle. Symmetries, such as +/− symmetry, could beexploited to reduce memory size, if important. The buffered memoryoutput bits drive the opto-isolators that drive the FET gates of eachH-bridge to generate one of its three output voltage states at eachinstant and in the correct sequence.

The preferred approach uses a time counter for counting of the order of32768 steps over a 60 Hz cycle, an address counter, and memory to storea count and an associated set of MOSFET drive signals. The addresscounter is initialized to the first address at an appropriate point inthe power-up procedure and a set of MOSFET drive signals are read fromthe memory at that address, together with the next count. When the timecounter reaches the next count, the address is incremented and the nextset of MOSFET drive signals is read from memory, together with the nextcount value. In this way, the number of sets of signal values stored isonly of the order of the number of waveform steps. Either method can beimplemented in a suitable microcontroller, such as an 80C51, whichcontains suitable time-counters.

Using the above methods, it is relatively easy to construct a converterthat can be selected to generate 50 Hz or 60 Hz, or even 400 Hz power byvarying the oscillator frequency, the memory contents or both, orstoring waveforms over a lowest common multiple period of the desiredfrequency selections, or computing the ternary digit sequences in realtime.

The ternary representation of a sine wave of peak voltage Vo volts whenthe DC input voltage is Vdc may be computed as follows:

-   -   Divide up one cycle of 360 degrees into 32768 equal increments        0, θ, 2θ, 3θ . . . 32767θ where θ=360/32768 degrees.    -   Compute the value A equal to Vo times the SINE of each angle.        Then, for each angle:    -   If A is greater or equal to +Vdc/2, then T4=1; if A is less or        equal to −Vdc/2, then T4=−1; else T4=0    -   Subtract Vdc times the just-determined value of T4 from A to        obtain the remainder in A.    -   If the remainder in A is greater or equal to Vdc/6 volts, then        T3=1; if A is less or equal to −Vdc/6 volts, then T3=−1; else        T3=0    -   Subtract Vdc/3 times the just-determined value of T3 from the        previous remainder A to get a new remainder A    -   If the new remainder A is greater or equal to Vdc/18 volts, then        T2=1; if A is less or equal to −Vdc/18 volts, then T2=−1; else        T2=0    -   Subtract Vdc/9 times the just determined value of T2 from A to        get the final remainder in A    -   If the final remainder A is greater or equal to Vdc/54 volts,        then T1=1; if A is less or equal to −Vdc/54 volts, then T1=−1;        else T1=0    -   Repeat the above determination of ternary words (T4,T3,T2,T1)        for each of the 32768 angular increments.

The above algorithm can also be executed using different voltagethresholds, corresponding to other DC input voltage levels, in order todetermine a ternary digit sequence that will yield the desired AC rmsoutput voltage for the other DC input voltages.

Having determined the ternary values for each clock period, the H-bridgedrive signals required for that ternary value are then stored along withthe clock count at which they are invoked, thus resulting in a muchsmaller memory. With four H-bridges, the drive signals are convenientlypacked into one byte, and slightly more than 81 entries result due tousing both pass-through states for the most significant H-bridge aroundzero crossings, as shown in FIG. 5, which correspond to the same ternarydigit of zero. In effect, two different forms of zero are used for themost significant ternary digit. In some cases it is possible thatadditional memory entries could be created in the event that smalltiming differences were needed between switching different H-bridges inorder to minimize glitches.

The above ternary approximation algorithm can be executed for any set ofgraduated supply voltages, and for any desired output waveform orvoltage. The peak output voltage should however be less than the sum ofthe floating DC supply voltages if clipping of the waveform is to beavoided.

A number of ternary representation sequences can be precomputed andstored for different ratios of sine wave output voltage to DC supplyvoltage, in steps of a few percent for example, the selection amongwhich then provides the means to regulate the output sine wave voltageagainst changes in DC supply voltage.

The algorithm may alternatively be executed in real time using amicroprocessor or digital signal processor. For self-test purposes, theconverter is equipped with an A-to-D converter that measures and checkseach voltage step against limits during the start-up sequence, and mayalso periodically recheck each voltage step during normal operation, forexample, by sampling and digitizing a voltage step level just before astep to the next voltage level in sequence is taken. Then the time atwhich the just-measured voltage step is the best approximation to thedesired instantaneous sine wave level can be computed, and if differentthan the currently stored value, the stored value may be updated. Bystepping to a higher voltage step a little earlier, or a lower voltagestep a little later, a small increase in the output rms voltage isachieved, while stepping to a lower voltage step earlier or to a highervoltage step later, a small decrease in rms output voltage is obtained.In this way, a continuous and fine regulation of the output rms voltagemay be obtained.

It is also possible to use a clock frequency that is different than apower of 2 times 60 Hz. There may then be more or fewer than 32768 clockcycles in one converter cycle. In a preferred implementation, an 80C51microprocessor clock is 11.0592 MHz, giving an internal clock frequencyof 11.0592/6 MHz, which is 30720 clocks in one 60 Hz cycle. Consequentlythe ternary digit sequence is calculated in steps of 360 degrees dividedby 30720. The converter may also be provided with other stored sequencesthat can be selected to generate 50 Hz or 400 Hz outputs, which haverepetition periods of 36864 and counts respectively, when using acrystal frequency of 11.0592 MHz.

FIGS. 10 and 11 give more circuit detail of the load convertor. FIG. 11gives detail of the DC input circuit, showing the entry of the DC +veand −ve lines through a common mode filter 200 into a start-up circuitcomprising start-up relay RLY1 (203), 100-watt lamp B1 (204),photo-sensor (206) and main power relay RLY2 (205). DC power flowsthrough main power relay RLY2 (205) when closed and through 100 Acurrent measuring shunt (206) to 60 KHz bidirectional DC-DC inverter(110) and to 120-volt H-bridge 120 a. Bidirectional DC-DC inverter 110generates the floating DC voltages of 40v, 13.33v and 4.44 volts for theother three H-bridges 120 b,c an d. Each of the DC voltages produced bythe bidirectional DC-DC inverter is decoupled with a substantialreservoir capacitor, which however is not essential to the operation ofthe inverter. There are two advantages of using reservoir capacitorshowever: (1) To reduce copper losses n the 60 KHz inverter transformerwindings by smoothing out current demand, and

(2) to reduce low-load or no-load standby power.

Both of these will be explained in more detail later. Upon switch on,these reservoir capacitors would cause a substantial and potentiallydamaging inrush current to flow for some fraction of a second, which itis the purpose of the start-up circuit of FIG. 11 to reduce to safevalues. The start-up circuit also permits the whole inverter to bepowered up stage-by-stage while checking for faults at each stage sothat start up may be aborted if faults exist that could cause a cascadeof other component failures.

Referring to FIG. 11, the DC+ and − input terminals are connectedthrough common mode filter 200 to control circuit and auxiliary powersupply unit 202 via a 250 mA fuse 201. Upon applying a DC input to theinput terminals, auxiliary PSU 202 starts operating and powers up thecontrol circuit, which may contain a microprocessor. After performingself checks to verify that the control circuit initialized itselfcorrectly, ensuring that all output relays and the start-up and mainpower relay are in the OFF position, and all H-bridge transistors areoff, the control circuit closes start-up relay RLY1 (203), the coil ofwhich is powered from the already operating auxiliary PSU (202), toconnect the DC positive line through 100-watt lamp (204) to the input ofthe 60 KHz bidirectional DC-DC convertor (110). The DC-DC convertorpower transistors and synchronous rectifier transistors are commutatedat this point so that DC flowing through lamp 204 will be converted tothe desired output voltages, charging all reservoir capacitors at a ratedetermined by the limited lamp current. For the purpose of analysis, thetotal reservoir capacitance transformed through the 60 KHz invertertransformer ratio may be just lumped into a single value, shown dottedin FIG. 11. The current required to charge this capacitor is sufficientto light the 100-watt lamp for a second or so, the lamp dimming as thecapacitor charges towards 120 volt. The lamp 204 thus limits the inrushcurrent to perhaps 7 amps when the filament is cold, falling to 0.8 ampswhen the filament is at full brightness, and then falling further as thecapacitance charges up towards 120 volts. The charging is faster thanexponential, as the resistance of the lamp reduces from 150 ohms at fullbrightness to about 18 ohms as it cools. The use of a lamp instead of aseries resistor has this benefit of faster charging, and also is able todissipate 100 watts as long as necessary, whereas a 100 watt resistorwould need heat-sinking and would be more expensive.

If any fault exists which causes the 60 KHz inverter, or any H-bridge,which is supposed to be off, to take current, then the no-load currentthrough the lamp will not drop to zero, and will be high enough to causethe lamp to remain partially lit. After allowing 2 seconds for normalstart up, such a fault condition is detected using phototransistor 206,which is in close proximity to lamp 204, and the control circuit abortsstart up and opens start-up relay 203 upon detecting the abnormalcondition. Assuming however that the lamp does not remain lit, after twoseconds the control circuit concludes that all reservoir capacitors havebeen successfully charged and that no abnormal no-load current exists.The control circuit also requires to have seen the lamp light brieflyafter the start-up relay is closed, thus verifying the integrity of thelamp and the phototransistor. If the lamp does not light briefly afterclosing the start-up relay, the start-up sequence may be aborted.Automatic retries may optionally be programmed to occur up to a limit.

After the reservoir capacitors are charged, the main inverter H-bridgesare operated off load with the AC output relays open. FIG. 10 shows moredetail of the complete single-phase load converter. Referring to FIG.10, the DC input enters via common-mode filter 200 to the startupcircuit just described with the aid of FIG. 11. The start-up circuitswitches the filtered DC input through a 100-amp current shunt (101-5)to 60 KHz inverter 110-1 and 120 volt H-bridge 120 a. 60 KHz inverter110-1 together with synchronous rectifiers 110-2, 110-2 and 110-4constitute the bidirectional DC-DC converter of FIG. 2. Each synchronousrectifier has an output reservoir capacitor and is connected to anassociated H-bridge, 120 b, c or d. The four H-bridges are driven byfour corresponding sets of four optoisolated MOSFET drivers (222). Eachsynchronous rectifier uses two further MOSFET drives and the 60 KHzinverter uses two MOSFET drivers, making 26 in total. The MOSFET driversrequire 12-15 volt power supplies. Two MOSFET drivers can use the same15-volt supply if they drive MOSFETs that have their sources connected.Thus, using the transistor identifications of FIG. 3, one 15-volt supplyis required for H-bridge 120 a TR(b) and TR(d); another .is required forH-bridge 120 b TR(b) and Tr(d) and the transistors of its associatedsynchronous rectifier 110-2; a third is required for H-bridge 120 c andits associated synchronous rectifier 110-3; a fourth for H-bridge 120 dand rectifier 110-4 and a fifth for 60 LHz inverter 110-1. Otherisolated supplies may be required for microprocessor controller andwaveform generator 202-2 and for various overcurrent, undervoltage andovervoltage sensors. All these supplies are produced by auxiliary powersupply 202-1. Auxiliary supply 202-1 comprises a low-power, switch-moderegulator producing high frequency AC which is distributed to thelocation on the printed circuit board at which an isolated supply isneeded, where it is transformed to the desired voltage using a smalltoroidal isolating transformer followed by a diode rectifier.Distributing AC and isolating and rectifying it at destination has thebenefit of reducing PCB tracking congestion.

The output from H-bridge 120 d is coupled back to controller 202-2 wherethe instantaneous output voltage can be sampled and digitized by anA-to-D convertor. Each ternary step can thus be tested in turn duringthe start-up sequence by measuring the output voltage produced. If allternary steps look normal and lamp 204 did not light in the process, theconclusion is that all H-bridge transistors are operating normally withneither short nor open circuits, giving a very low no-load current. TheH-bridges are then operated to generate the normal step approximation toa 120 volt RMS sine wave. Again assuming that lamp 204 remains unlit,the inverter is now generating the desired 60 Hz output with no abnormalno-load current. The main power relay (205) is then closed, which shortsout the lamp and start up relay to allow high currents to flow when theAC load is connected. Note that relay 205 closes only when there is zerovolts across its contacts and zero current through it. This permits itto be a very much lower cost relay than one with sufficiently robustcontacts to make or break full load many times. 60 Hz generation is thentemporarily suspended by controlling the four ternary H-bridges to theopen circuit condition so that the AC output relays may also be closedwith no voltage across them and no current though their contacts. 60 HZgeneration is then resumed to deliver AC power to the load, and if nocurrent overload is detected, the inverter has successfully executed asafe start-up. Both the main power relay and the AC output relays derivetheir coil power from the 13.33 volt output of the 60 KHz inverter, sothat any failure of the DC-DC converter forces those relays to the opencondition. Moreover, the auxiliary PSU is diode-protected such that itwill neither power-on nor be damaged by connecting the DC input withreverse polarity. The start-up relay cannot therefore be operated if theDC input is of the reverse polarity, thus protecting polarizedelectrolytic capacitors and the H-bridge switches from accidentaldamage.

Power down of the inverter can be initiated by a user OFF switch or bydetection of any of the following fault conditions, which are notnecessarily exhaustive:

-   -   Over- or undervoltage at the DC input    -   Overcurrent from the DC supply    -   Excessive AC current    -   Overtemperature on the heat sink    -   Lamp 204 becoming lit    -   Abnormal AC output voltage waveform

The above fault conditions may be arranged to cause substantiallyinstantaneous cessation of inverter operation.

A normal Power down occurs in approximately the reverse order topower-up. Firstly, commutation of the ternary H-bridges ceases and theyare switched to the open circuit condition. The AC output relays 131 arethen opened, which occurs with zero volts across the contacts and zerocurrent through them. The main power relay (205) is then opened, whichoccurs with no current flowing through it and zero volts across itscontacts. Finally, the start-up relay 203 is de-energized, whichconnects the reservoir capacitance through the lamp to ground,discharging it. The 60 KHz inverter continues to operate while thereservoir capacitors are discharging, but is deactivated after a fewseconds. The control circuit can check whether lamp 204 lit momentarilyduring the capacitor discharge sequence, as it should. The inverter isthen ready to begin a power-up cycle once any fault condition iscleared. Automatic restart attempts can be programmed to occur up to aspecified number of retries, if desired.

FIG. 12 shows the ternary approximation of the sine wave output from theinventive load convertor. A feature of this invention is that all thevoltage steps are of approximately the same size, but have a varyingdwell time according to how fast the sine wave is changing. This gives awell-spread approximation error spectrum with no dominant harmonics.FIG. 13 shows the amplitude of each harmonic of 60 Hz up to 16384×60 Hz,which is in the middle of the medium waveband.

The Medium Wave frequency band begins at about half way from center,where the spectral energy in any 9 KHz AM radio channel is seen to be 78dB below the main 60 Hz component. For a 5 kW (+67 dBm) convertor, thisis a level of −11 dBm in the 9 KHz bandwidth of an AM radio. This isstill a high level of radio noise, and interference with radio and TVreception from Medium Wave all the way up to VHF TV frequencies has beenobserved when using prior art converters. Such interference is called“inverter hash” and has been known since the days or rotary converters,or dynamotors, where it was due to commutator/brush noise. Thus, despitethe good sine-approximation evident in FIG. 12, the sheer power of theconvertor requires that additional hash suppression be used whenoperating close to sensitive radio receivers. Suppression of radiointerference shall be at least sufficient to meet FCC part 15specifications, but greater suppression is often desirable.

FIG. 10 shows more detail of a complete load converter, including RFIfilters at both the DC input (200) and the convertor output (131). TheRFI filters are required, as the output will be distributed around thehouse wiring in a residential application. A suitable 2^(rd)-order LCfilter is shown in FIG. 8. FIG. 14 shows the reduction in medium-waveinterference to 98 dB below the inverter output when using the filter.This additional 20 dB of suppression of inverter hash .substantiallyeliminates interference at medium wave and above with radio and TV inthe same location.

As later discussed in relation to common mode filtering on the DC side,RFI filters preferably include damping resistors as well as capacitorsand inductors, to ensure that no high-Q resonances occur at anyfrequency when connected to arbitrary house wiring and appliances. Thisis the purpose of C2 and R1 in FIG. 8. These components are chosen alsoto minimize ringing and overshoot on no load.

FIG. 9 emphasizes the difference between a safe RFI filtering circuit(9B) and an unsafe RFI filtering circuit (9A). Unfortunately, the unsafecircuit of FIG. 9A is in widespread use on the input power connectors ofPersonal Computers, VCRs and the like, and electronic technicians quitecommonly experience shock from laboratory benches due to the use of suchfilters in laboratory test equipment, when the ground is temporarilylost, as can happen accidentally or deliberately in a dynamic R&Denvironment for various reasons. It can also result in inadvertentdamage to expensive equipment upon accidental or deliberatedisconnection of the equipment ground.

With the prior art circuit of FIG. 9A, should the ground connection tothe equipment fail, the line voltage will be divided in two by thepotential divider formed by the filter capacitors, and the chassis orcase of the equipment will become live to the touch, at about 60 volts60 Hz AC (in the US) or 120 volts 50 Hz (in Europe). The current islimited when the filter capacitors are small, e.g. 0.01 uF, but canstill be felt as an electric shock, and is very unpleasant if theequipment is a medical device attached to a catheter, for example.Moreover, when several pieces of equipment are used together, as in arack or a lab bench, the net current can reach more dangerous levels.For an entire household, the typical ground current that can be measuredflowing down the grounding rod is often as high as 50 mA, arising fromall installed appliances such as TV sets, computers, VCR's, washingmachines etc.

FIG. 9B shows the safer form of RFI filter. In FIG. 9B, the filteringcapacitors decouple the hot line to the neutral line, not the equipmentground as in FIG. 9A. The neutral line is then decoupled to theequipment ground with another capacitor. In this way, should the groundbecome disconnected, the chassis or case of the equipment is onlyconnected via a capacitor to the neutral line, not the hot line, therebyavoiding a safety hazard. It would require both the ground and theneutral wire to fail while the hot line remained intact, in order tocause the case or chassis of the equipment to become live when using theRFI filtering circuit of FIG. 9B, which is therefore a saferarrangement.

For the reasons given above, the output RFI filter comprises a seriesinductor in the 120-volt AC hot leg output, and capacitors C1 and C2connect to neutral, not equipment ground. Furthermore, the neutraloutput is decoupled to equipment ground through the neutral outputisolating relay contacts. In this way, when the output relays are open,there is no path to ground for the inverter, battery or array circuits,not even through the 1 uF neutral-ground decoupling capacitor, thusensuring complete isolation of the DC circuits when the inverter is notoperating.

FIG. 6 shows the common mode hash filter used on the DC input. This alsoreturns the decoupling capacitors to neutral rather than equipmentground for the reasons discussed above. A common-mode filter is used dueto the square wave exported to the DC input lines being in phase on bothterminals. The purpose of this filter is to slow the rise and fall timesof the edges of the 60 Hz square wave in order to avoid exporting radiointerference to DC equipment such as the solar array and battery. The DClines from the array may be protected against induced static duringthunderstorms by means of gas discharge surge arrestors, and it isdesired to avoid peak voltages due to filter overshoot under normaloperation that could cause premature ignition of the surge arrestors.FIG. 7 shows the transient response of the common mode hash filter ofFIG. 6, after optimization of component values for minimum overshoot.

FIG. 2 shows a bidirectional DC-DC convertor for providing variousfloating DC output voltages such as Vdc/3. Vdc/9 and Vdc/27 using a DCsource of Vdc volts. The DC-DC converter uses a high switching frequencysuch as 60 KHz, enabling the transformer to be much smaller than wouldbe required for 60 Hz operation. The transformer in FIG. 2 has fourwindings, which have turns ratios N1:N2:N3:N4 in proportion to thevoltage ratios V1:V2:V3:V4. For the purposes of explanation, eachwinding has been shown as a center tapped winding with the center tapsconnected to the positive terminal of the DC inputs or outputs and theends of the windings connected to the drains of N-type MOSFET pairs.Power MOSFETs generally comprise a drain-to source body diode which isshown as part of the transistor.

One of the transistor pairs, for example TR1 a and TR1 b, is commutatedat 60 KHz and a voltage V1 is applied to that input. The othertransistor pairs are commutated in synchronism and form synchronousrectifiers. For example, TR2 a is switched on when the transformerwinding end to which its drain is connected goes negative, therebytransferring the negative voltage to the −ve terminal of the V2 output.Likewise TR2 b is switched on when its drain goes negative, and thedrain of TR2 a goes positive, TR2 a is switched off when its drain ispositive and thus does not pass current. Thus a DC voltage V2 isproduced at the V2 output which is N2/N1 times V1, where N2 and N1 arethe numbers of turns on the respective transformer windings. It can beseen that the input circuit for V1 is indistinguishable from any outputcircuit. Thus any one of the transistor pairs can function either as aninverter commutating a DC input or as a synchronous rectifier producinga DC output. Thus power flow can be from any port to any other portdepending on whether the port is sinking current or sourcing current.This is important to the operation of the inventive load converter aspower flows in the reverse direction whenever a ternary digit has theopposite sign to the instantaneous output voltage, or if the AC outputcurrent is not in phase with the AC output voltage due to the non-unityload power factor of a reactive load.

In a preferred implementation of the converter, the commutator used toconnect the 120 volt supply to the transformer is a full H-bridge,eliminating the primary center-tap and simplifying the transformer. The40 volt, 13.33 volt and 4.44 volt windings are however center tapped andconnected to synchronous rectifier MOSFET pairs as shown in FIG. 2.Using a transformer center tap is simpler than using a full H-bridgesynchronous rectifier, as each synchronous rectifier can share a gatedriver supply with the H-bridge it powers, since their sources arecommon. Moreover, the transformer can be divided into two or threetransformers with their non-center-tapped primaries paralleled in orderto obtain convenient sizes and avoid wiring concentration. In apreferred implementation, a first transformer has a 120 volt primary anda center tapped 40-0-40 secondary, while a second transformer has a 120volt primary and center tapped 4.44-0-4.44 and 13.33-0-13.33 voltsecondaries. Providing the 40v supply from a first transformer and thelower voltages from a second transformer results in identically-sized,small transformers.

In designing a DC-to-DC converter, a trade off must be made betweenswitch losses, copper loss in the windings and hysteresis loss in thecore. Using a higher frequency gives fewer turns of thicker wire, butcore and switch losses increase. In the 60 KHz region, skin-effect issignificant for smaller wire than 23 AWG, so Litz wire comprising manystrands of 23 AWG is used to reduce copper loss.

Core loss persists even when the output power is zero, which can be asignificant contributor to standby (no-load) current. In the inventiveload converter, standby current due to core and switching losses in theDC-DC converter is reduced by use of a novel waveform. Firstly, the 40,13.33 and 4.44 volt outputs of the DC-DC converter are provided withlarge reservoir capacitors. This has the first benefit that current inthe transformer windings is proportional to the mean DC current of eachoutput, rather than the peak current, thereby reducing copper losses inthe windings. A second benefit is that the reservoir capacitors cansupply the low currents required for light loads for at least one ormore cycles of the 60 KHz switching frequency, enabling switching cyclesto be periodically omitted. For example, if the load current is only1/10th the peak output capability, then every alternate DC-DC converterswitching cycle can be omitted and all the transistors of FIG. 2 areheld in the off state during the omitted cycle. In this way, core andswitching losses are halved at 1/10 maximum power output. At even lowerpower outputs, for example 1/100th the maximum, it may be chosen to omit9 out of 10 DC-DC converter switching cycles, which reduces the core andswitching losses even further. Upon detecting an increase in loadcurrent or reduction of any voltage, the number of omitted switchingcycles may be instantaneously reduced in anticipation of the need tosupply greater current to the reservoir capacitors.

FIG. 21 exemplifies the novel DC-DC converter waveforms. FIG. 21A showsthe DC-DC converter switching waveforms when operating continuously withno omitted cycles. FIG. 21B shows the switching waveforms when alternateswitching cycles are omitted, and FIG. 21C shows omitting three out ofevery four switching cycles. This method of reducing switching losses atlight load is different than merely reducing the switching frequency. Ifthe switching frequency were reduced instead, the volt-time integralinto the transformer on every half cycle would increase, increasing thepeak flux density and potentially causing core saturation. Keeping thepositive and negative half cycles the same length in microseconds whileomitting cycles does not increase the flux density however.

An alternative waveform for reducing switching frequency would be tospace the on periods of TR1 b - - - TR4 b midway between the on periodsof TR1 a . . . TR4 a. However this has some consequences for transformerand controller design and is not the preferred method. The preferredmethod of omitting complete cycles has the advantages that thetransformer flux is reset to zero after each non-omitted, completecycle, and that all transistors can use the same control waveforms.

An isolated positive pulse or half cycle followed by a negative pulse orhalf cycle may be referred to as a “doublet”. The inventive power-savingwaveform for light loads may therefore be described as driving the DC-DCconverter with doublets, the spacing between successive doublets beingincreased as the current demand reduces.

Power transformers exhibit an “inrush current” phenomenon, which occurswhen power is suddenly supplied to the transformer at a voltage zerocrossing. The flux in the core rises to a maximum during the first halfcycle, and then falls to zero during the reverse-polarity half cycle.However, that implies a DC bias to the flux, which therefore swingsbetween zero and twice the normal peak. This DC bias decays due towinding resistance after several cycles, but meantime may cause coresaturation and greatly magnified inrush current. To prevent this, it isadvantageous to modify the waveform of the doublet by including the lastquarter-cycle of the previous (omitted) cycle and the first quartercycle of the following (omitted) cycle, thus preventing the flux densityin the core from exceeding its normal steady-state value. The modifieddoublet and the attendant core-flux waveform are shown in FIG. 25. It isknown from the art of solid state relays to employ peak switching of ACvoltages into inductive loads precisely for avoidance of inrush current,as just described.

Since high-frequency transformers must operate at much less thansaturation flux density in order to reduce core loss, typically ataround 100 to 200 milliTeslas, it may not be necessary to use the morecomplex modified doublet waveform of FIG. 25 when omitting cycles. Thechoice between the waveforms of FIGS. 21 and 25 should be made independence of the DC-DC transformer design and the properties of themagnetic material used for its core.

A 7.2 kilowatt single-phase standalone inverter has been designedaccording to the above principles using a single 4-layer printed circuitboard (PCB) of size 12″×14″ for all higher-power and high-currentcomponents and one smaller 4-layer PCB for microprocessor and controlfunctions. The power board uses a “maximum-copper” layout, in whichheavy-current conductors are of the widest possible dimensions, formedthrough removing copper in narrow strips to isolate different circuitnodes, thereby leaving the maximum amount of copper, rather than theconventional PCB layout technique of defining narrow tracks of copperwhere conductors are required and etching away everything else. Powertransistors requiring heat-sinking are contained within a 14″×5″ sectionin the middle of the board and have their leads soldered to the board onthe component side, so that no leads or solder bumps protrude to theother side, which may then be bolted flat to a metal heatsink formingpart of the case of the inverter. The inverter, as with other equipmentdesigns described herein, may be designed to be mounted flush withSheetrock in the 14″ gap between two studs at the standard 16″ spacingin US residential woodframe construction. The outer gridded surface ofthe heatsink is inside the wall, and louvered vents may be placed aboveand below the inverter to provide convective airflow as necessary, thegap between studs acting as a chimney to enhance convection. Athermistor on the heatsink protects the inverter from overtemperature inthe event of use at maximum power for prolonged periods with restrictedairflow.

While the above-described load converter provides some proportion of ahousehold or business electricity needs and provides a desirable batteryback-up facility, the timing of the demand is not necessarily correlatedwith solar irradiation, which is the purpose of storing energy in abattery for future use. Currently, lead acid batteries are the onlyeconomic storage solution, but this may change if electric vehiclebattery research and their large production volume succeeds in reducingthe cost of other battery types. In general, storage batteries, and leadacid batteries in particular, survive only a finite number ofcharge-discharge cycles before replacement becomes necessary. To prolonglife, it is desirable to avoid 100% depth of discharge on a regularbasis, and to allow normally only 20% depth of discharge, except duringthe emergency situation of a utility outage. Using 10, 12-volt, 100ampere-hour, deep-cycle batteries, the energy storage available during autility outage would thus be 12 kilowatt-hours, which will run essentialhousehold appliances for a considerable period. Only 20% or 2.4 kilowatthours should be used regularly however. Thus it is only possible todefer 2.4 KwHrs of consumption of solar energy to a later period of theday without using a much bigger battery. Some of this supply-demandtiming mismatch can be resolved by using smart devices to start loads,such as a dishwasher, according to a timer, or even according to solarillumination. Another possibility is to divert solar energy in excess ofbattery charging needs to HVAC or other diversionary load. However,there is a limit to how much solar array energy can be absorbed by ahousehold immediately due to the very varying demand and supply curves.To improve the supply-demand match, solar energy can be diverted to theutility grid where the demand curve is averaged over millions of users.This is the purpose of a grid intertie inverter.

Before describing the inventive grid-tie inverter in more detail, asolar combiner is described that assist smart energy management in acomplete installation. The circuit of solar combiner 700 is shown onFIG. 27. A number of DC inputs 700-1 to 700-n may be connected to theterminals of individual solar panels or different strings of solarpanels. The inputs are isolated and have separate −ve and +ve terminalsfor wiring to the solar array. Each pair of input wires is connected tothe input of a respective per-string circuit 710-1 to 710-n. Eachper-string circuit comprises fuses 701 a. 701 b on both the positiveline and the negative line to protect wiring from fault conditions. EachDC input line then proceeds through snubber circuit (702, 703, 704) andblocking diode 705 to DPDT relay 706. Blocking diodes 705 preventreverse current flow to any string or panel exhibiting lower voltagethan the other strings, for example when a panel is shadowed. Whenproperly selected, blocking diodes have a voltage drop of around 0.6volts, so there is a compromise between the diode loss and the currentloss due to shadowing without diodes. For array voltages below about 36volts, it may be more efficient to omit the blocking diodes and tolerateshadowing loss, while it is more efficient to employ them for higherarray voltages. An advantage of blocking diodes is that they alsoprevent blowing a fuse if a string is accidentally short-circuited.Blocking diodes may also be desirable for lower array voltages if asubstantial fraction of the total number of strings can besimultaneously shadowed.

Snubber circuit comprising capacitor 702, diode 703 and resistor 704operates in conjunction with blocking diode 705 to protect the contactsof relays 706,707 from high inrush current and arcing on making orbreaking. Consider for example that the load on output 1 comprises alarge capacitor, e.g. the reservoir capacitor on an inverter. When relay706 is closed to route current to output 1, the load may instantaneouslyappear like a short circuit, pulling the voltage of the positive linedown to the potential of the negative line. This negative goingtransient passes through capacitor 702 and reverse biases diode 703, sothat the only current that flows is the array short circuit current,which is inherently limited, plus the current flowing through resistor704 to discharge capacitor 702. The load voltage then rises smoothlywith relay 706 contacts closed and capacitor 702 charges throughresistor 704 to the same voltage. When relay 706 contacts open todisconnect the string from the load, the string voltage attempts torise, and the positive going transient passes through capacitor 702 toforward bias diode 703, which therefore caps the voltage rise at about0.7 volts. Thus the relay contacts are only required to break loadcurrent with 0.7 volts across them. In another situation, the load mayalready be charged or powered by other strings when relay 706 closes. Ifcapacitor 702 is not already charged, blocking diode 705 will prevent ahigh back-inrush current from the load, leaving capacitor 702 to becharged only by the inherently limited array current. A suitablecapacitor 702 is about 220 uF with a working voltage above the highestopen circuit string voltage with which the combiner is intended tooperate.

One positive and one negative output contact from each of relays 706 areparalleled to the DC output bus connected to output 1 terminals 721.Each relay may be controlled, via control port 1, to connect itsassociated string to output 1. Thus the combiner can be remotelycontrolled via control port 1 to deliver the current of 0, 1, 2 . . . nstrings to Output 1. Typically, 8 relays (706) would be driven by arelay driver chip located in a controller. The controller may be part ofinverter 1000. A suitable relay driver chip is the Texas Instrumentspart number TPL9201. Output 1 may be connected to a battery and a loadconverter. The load converter can monitor the battery voltage andoptionally the battery net current and, via control port 1, direct thecombiner to output more or less current to output 1 by selecting ordeselecting strings in order to keep the battery at an optimum state ofcharge. The load converter can thereby achieve intelligent batterymanagement, by implementing in software different charge regimes such asbulk charge, absorption charge, equalization charge and float charge independence on the history of the battery state. Alternatively, aseparate charge controller can implement these functions in cooperationwith the solar combiner 700. The advantage of involving the solarcombiner in charge control is that any string not required to achievethe desired instantaneous load inverter plus battery charge current canhave its current diverted to a secondary output 2.

When relay 706 is not selected to output its associated string currentto output 1, the current is routed to relay 707. Relay 707 may beprogrammed to divert the current to a second output bus connected tooutput 2 terminals 722. Output 2 is connected to a load that is of lowerpriority than the load on output 1, as control port 1 must have caused arelay 706 to relinquish current in order for output 2 to receive it. Thesecond priority load can comprise controls connected to control port 2to select any of the strings relinquished by the first priority load, ornone. When control port 2 does not select a string, its output appearson associated string test points which are isolated from all otherstrings and loads, which is useful for maintenance purposes. A bleedresistor 708 is connected across each test point so that, upondeselecting a string for maintenance purposes, the charge on capacitor702 is bled down to a safe value in about 30 seconds. If neither thefirst nor second priority load selects any string, then all strings areisolated from each other and the loads, thereby providing a DCdisconnect function. DC disconnect can be forced using switch 709 localto the combiner, which removes power from all relay coils. Second orfurther switches can optionally be provided at remote locations to forceDC disconnect. For example, a DC disconnect can be provided at aninverter, at the main service entrance of a building, and so forth. Inany case, when the inventive load inverter is connected to output 1 andcontrol port 1, if the inverter ceases inverting for any reason, relaypower will not be supplied to control port 1 and DC from the array willbe disconnected from output 1. Likewise, if a grid-tie inverter isconnected to output 2 and control port 2, cessation of inverting willdisconnect relay power from control port 2 causing all relays 707 todisconnect DC power from output port 2. An inventive load converter andan inventive grid tie inverter may also be coupled such that, if oneceases inverting, the other will also cease inverting. Optionally,relays 707 can be replaced with manual DPDT switches, and then the loadon output 2 automatically receives the current of any string not usedfor output 1, as long as the associated manual switch has enabled it.However, the disconnect function of manual switches cannot beremote-controlled from another location.

Since each per-string circuit 710 is identical, a small sub-board can bedesigned to accommodate the components, and only as many installed in aparticular combiner as there are strings to be combined. Since nocombiner is required for a single string, it is logical to put at leasttwo circuits 710 on a sub-board, and then to install as many sub-boardsas required to reach or exceed the desired combining capacity.Parameters for a typical combiner board are:

Absolute Maximum string voltage: 380 volts

Maximum number of strings per combiner: 8

Maximum current per string: 8 amps

Total maximum current: 64 amps

FIG. 15 illustrates an inventive single-phase grid intertie inverter. Asin the load convertor configuration, the circuitry is simplified by theuse of a floating solar array in which neither terminal is permanentlyconnected to ground or the neutral line. The floating DC supply from thesolar array is fed through common-mode filter 200 to H-bridge 2010. Thefour MOSFET power transistors of the H-bridge are able to be turned onand off by opto-isolated controller 2020. Tr(a) and Tr(b) connect thepositive and the negative of the DC supply alternately to the AC outputneutral line, which is a grounded conductor. The DC− is connected to theneutral when the AC output is required momentarily to be positive, andthe DC+ is connected to neutral when the AC output is momentarilyrequired to be negative. This switching is synchronized with the utilitygrid so that the two solar array terminals are alternately grounded at a60 Hz repetition rate. Common mode filter 2000 slows the switching edgesas previously described so as to avoid the export of high frequencyinterference. The voltage on each solar array terminal relative toground thus comprises an average of about 85 volts DC with an 85-voltpeak square wave superimposed. For the safety of electricians or otherpersonnel who may work on the solar system, the solar array and otherparts of the DC circuit shall, according to the National Electrical Code(2008) be labeled with an indication that both DC conductors are hot. Anappropriate wire color coding is red for positive and black fornegative, both of which signify “hot” in an AC context, whileidentifying positive and negative in a DC context.

When the DC −ve is connected to neutral, the other two H-bridgetransistors TR(c) and TR(d) operate at a high switching frequency, forexample 200 KHz, to connect the DC+ to the AC output with a mark-spaceratio varying in proportion to the desired sinewave current waveform.The on-off switching can for example be a delta-sigma modulationrepresentation of the desired positive half cycle. Thus TR(c) turns onfor a time to cause current to increase in L1. Tr(c) then turns off andTR(d) turns on to catch the flyback from L1. TR(c) and Tr(d) operate inreverse for a negative half cycle, when the DC+ is connected to neutral.The required switching patterns may be precomputed and stored incontroller memory for one complete 60 Hz cycle, or else synthesized inreal time to create the desired current or to follow the utilityvoltage. C1 further smooths the current from L1 to deliver a sine wavecurrent to the utility. A further RFI filter 2030 may be used to reduceexport of inverter hash which could otherwise cause radio interference.

The inverter of FIG. 15 has in principle a high efficiency whenoperating at normal power levels, but does not operate efficiently atgreatly reduced power levels. One reason for this is that the impedancesof L1 and C1 must be related to the output current and thus valuesappropriate for the maximum current do not provide proper smoothing atmuch lower currents. Moreover, the high frequency switching losses,while being negligible at full power, would be relatively moresignificant at lower powers. Also, this type of inverter must deliver acurrent to the utility at whatever voltage the utility exhibits, incontrast with the previously described load convertor which must delivera constant voltage to the load, whatever current the load draws. Forthese reasons, a grid-tie inverter does not make a good load converter,and vice-versa, although it is possible to design an inverter, known asa bimodal inverter, which can be wired up and operated in either mode.

Both types of high-efficiency convertor have a number of things incommon however, as well as the inventive principles described by theattached claims: In the single-phase case, the instantaneous powerdelivered to the load or utility is proportional to the square of thevoltage, and therefore follows a sin² (wt) curve which is adouble-frequency raised cosine ranging from zero watts to twice the meanpower. In the load convertor case, the battery evens out this demand andallows the solar array to charge the battery at a constant current. Inthe case of the grid-intertie inverter however, without the battery,there would be no means to even out the demand, and thus the solar arraywould have to be sized to deliver twice the mean current with consequentunder-utilization at other times in the 120 Hz cycle. To avoid this, asingle phase grid inter-tie inverter requires a substantial inputreservoir capacitor C2 to even out current flow over each 120 Hz cycle,and thus to match it with the constant current available from the solararray.

If the grid-tie inverter delivers 60 amps rms to the utility at 120volts, that is 7.2 Kw, the mean current from the solar array is 7.2 Kwdivided by the DC input voltage of, say 175 volts; that is, 41 amps. Thepeak current required by the inverter is 82 amps. C2 must thereforesupply 41 amps during a positive-going 120 Hz half cycle and recharge at41 amps on the negative-going half cycle. Neglecting the solar arrayoutput resistance, the 41 amp peak cosine current ripple must beabsorbed by C2 without producing a large ripple voltage. For 2 voltspeak ripple, the value of C2 is given by 2π120 C2=41 amps/2 volts,

from which C2 is determined to be 27000 uF approximately. The size andconstruction of this capacitor is determined more by its ripple currenthandling requirement than by its capacitance, and consists of severalaluminum electrolytic capacitors in parallel. This reservoir capacitorthus operates with a current ripple equal to the full output current,and must therefore be operated very conservatively and well within itsmaximum ripple current capability to prevent degradation. Degradedelectrolytic capacitors operating with high voltages and ripple currentscan overheat and burst causing a big mess, as often happened withantique tube radios, and has happened more recently with grid-tieinverters of the prior art. As will be shown, the inventive three-phasegrid-tie inverter can operate with a much smaller smoothing capacitor,as the current demand from the solar array for the three phase caseconsists of three, double-frequency raised cosine curves spaced 240degrees apart, which substantially cancel each other and produce muchless ripple current.

The grid-tie inverter is self regulating, in that it attains a level ofoutput current to the utility which allows the solar array voltage torise to the required minimum of √2 times the peak utility voltage, thatis about 170 volts assuming 120 volts at the utility.

A grid-tie inverter has to meet specific safety requirements and inparticular the anti-islanding requirement specified in UnderwriterLaboratories standard UL1741. Anti-islanding refers to means that mustbe employed to prevent the inverter from attempting to back-power aneighborhood during a utility outage, as this could endanger personneltrying to fix the fault. Anti-islanding is achieved by having theinverter controller 2020 derive its timing cues from the utilityvoltage, for example by waiting for a utility voltage zero-crossing totrigger the next switching cycle. If the utility is in outage, leavingone or more utility converters in a neighborhood connected to the grid,they will each wait for the next zero crossing and the frequency willtherefore drift until it is clearly out of limits, at which point theinverter stops and opens the output disconnect relay 2100. The inverteris also programmed to trip out if the voltage at its utility connectionis outside of specified limits, which is also indicative of disruptionof the utility connection. Controller 2020 continues to monitor theutility voltage, and if it returns to within predetermined voltage andfrequency limits and remains there consistently for 30 seconds, theinverter will resume operation. Various integrated circuits have beendeveloped to monitor the grid voltage and frequency and are available onthe market to facilitate the implementation of anti-islanding; forexample, the Analog Devices part number ADE7753.

The presence of an AC component on the array DC terminals has a numberof benefits; for example, it facilitates detection of ground leakagefaults on the DC side. If the inverter is connected to the utility via aregular two-pole AC GFI breaker, any leakage path on the DC side willresult in a 60 Hz imbalance current between neutral and hot on the ACside, thus tripping the breaker. The anti-islanding circuits then detectfailure of the utility input and shut off the inverter, opening theoutput relays. and the combiner relays, effecting an automatic DCdisconnect. The two pole GFCI breaker uses one pole to interrupt the hotleg and the other to interrupt the neutral. The breaker pigtail is usedto provide the ground connection for upstream equipment so that thesensitivity of the breaker is not affected by capacitive currents to thecable sheath or conduit, but only by an unexpected source of groundleakage. Alternatively, a specific common-mode current transformer canbe used on the DC feed to detect any AC current caused by a ground faulton the DC side. A preferred wiring method to connect the inverter to thearray combiner, and to connect each photovoltaic string to the combineris insulated, flexible metallic sheathed conduit also known asLiquidtight (metallic). The flexible metal sheath encloses the DCconnections and provides some screening of residual inverter hash. Theinsulating outer sheath on the Liquidtight also prevents accidentalconnection with any other grounding source, such as a water pipe, anddiscourages its unauthorized use as a ground for other appliances orcircuits. The sheath of the Liquidtight is ultimately grounded via theGFCI breaker pigtail, if this method of DC ground fault leakagedetection is employed. Other benefits in the single phase case of the 60Hz AC component on the DC conductors concern the specification of relaysand fuses. Any disconnecting device, such as a switch, relay or fuse,must usually be particularly designed and specified to break a DCcircuit as opposed to an AC circuit. AC is easier to break, becausethere are two voltage zero-crossings per cycle that will extinguish anyarcing rapidly. In the single-phase case, the inventive convertersalternately ground the positive and negative DC conductors. Thereforethe voltage on either DC conductor is zero for a whole half-cycle, andnot just a zero-crossing. Thus it is permissible to use AC-rated fusesin combiner 700 to protect against shorts to ground of any array wiring.Likewise, the battery fuses may be AC rated rather than DC-rated, oreither. In the three-phase case however, DC-rated fuses are required, asthe DC conductors do not exhibit voltage zero-crossings or zero periods.

For higher power levels, for example 20-100 kw or above, utilitiesprefer or insist that 3-phase power be delivered equally on all threephases to reduce cable costs and to maintain load balance. In the priorart, a three-phase inverter was constructed using three, synchronizedsingle-phase inverters, and even three separate solar arrays. With theinventive 3-phase inverter design, an integrated 3-phase inverter isprovided that operates from a single solar array. It is even moreeconomic, per kilowatt, to construct the inventive 3-phase inverter thanthe inventive singe-phase inverter, due in large part to the eliminationof the need for the large input reservoir capacitors.

FIG. 16 shows the principle of a 3-phase sine wave inverter according tothe invention. The DC input is applied to three half-bridges that canconnect either DC+ or DC− through an LC smoothing filter to each of thethree-phase outputs a, b and c. The three phase utility connection canfor example be a 120/208 connection with neutral, i.e. the utilitytransformer has a Y-configured secondary while most likely having aΔ-primary. Other three-phase utility configurations are possible. Forexample, a Δ-secondary with no neutral can be used. However, theY-connection is preferred so as to allow the RFI filter capacitors todecouple RF interference to neutral rather than ground, foraforementioned safety reasons Also, some means would be needed whenusing a Δ-secondary to prevent the system floating to an arbitraryoffset voltage—for example leak-resistors to ground from all threephases. The inventive 3-phase inverter can also be adapted to operatewith a 120/240/208 volt system having a so called 208-volt “high leg”.In Europe, a common 3-phase voltage is 240/416, which results in aninverter adapted to European voltages supplying twice the power (e.g. 40kW) for the same current.

FIG. 23 shows the inverter voltage waveforms at the output to theutility and on the input DC+ and DC− lines. The half-H-bridges operateaccording to the following logic:

(1) If Phase(a)>0v and Phase(b) and Phase(c)<0v then connect DC+ tophase(a).

(2) If Phase(a)<0v and Phase(b) and Phase(c)>0v then connect DC− tophase(a).

(3) If Phase(b)>0v and Phase(c) and Phase(a)<0v then connect DC+ tophase(b).

(4) If Phase(b)<0v and Phase(c) and Phase(a)>0v then connect DC− tophase(b).

(5) If Phase(c)>0v and Phase(a) and Phase(b)<0v then connect DC+ tophase(c).

(6) If Phase(c)<0v and Phase(a) and Phase(b)>0v then connect DC− tophase(c)

Operating the switches according to the above logic causes a common-modeAC signal to appear in-phase on DC terminals with a frequency of threetimes the AC output frequency of the inverter, that is 180 Hz for anoutput frequency of 60 Hz. The 180 Hz common mode signal is almost asine wave, and requires less filtering than the 60 Hz square wave of asingle phase inverter. It is also possible to construct split-phaseinverters according to the invention, the split phase inverter providingtwo AC output hot leg terminals with relative 180 degree phasing.Alternatively a two-phase inverter can be constructed according to theinvention that provides two AC output hot leg terminals having a90-degree relative phasing. In the latter case, a Scott-T transformer ofthe prior art can be used to convert the two-phase output to athree-phase output, if so desired.

When a first switch connects a DC input line to one of the phases, theother DC line is simply the DC supply voltage away from that phase involtage. That other DC line is then chopped at high frequency by otherswitches to generate, after hash-filtering, the best approximation tothe desired voltage difference to the other phase. In particular themark space ratio of the chopping action rises to 100% ON at the peak ofthe phase-to-phase voltage. The phase-to-phase voltage is 120√3=208vr.m.s for a 120/208 three-phase service, and the peak is a furtherfactor of √2 higher. Thus the solar array is loaded down to a DC voltageof 120√6=294 volts, assuming the AC voltage output is 120 volts rms perphase. With this voltage, the DC+ and DC− lines are seen to execute anear-sine waveform with an amplitude of 45.47 volts peak to peak and ata frequency of three times the AC output frequency. This 180 Hz waveformthat is superimposed on the DC lines is not quite a sine wave, as may bedetermined by computing its spectrum, but is sufficiently free of highfrequency harmonics that the common mode filter needed for a three-phaseinverter may be simpler than in the single-phase case. Moreover, theinstantaneous power delivered to the load is a flatline in the 3-phasecase, and therefore the current from the DC supply is also a flatline,and not a 120 Hz waveform, as was the case with single phase. Thereforein the 3-phase case, capacitor C2 does not have to smooth out afull-current 120 Hz ripple waveform, as it was required to do in thesingle phase case, and a smaller value suffices to prevent export ofinverter hash to the DC circuits. The ripple is low only when connectedto a three-phase utility having substantially equal voltages on eachphase and substantially the correct 120-degree relative phasing. Theutility is normally guaranteed to maintain these parameters within quitetight limits, as otherwise three-phase motors can be damaged; however,fault conditions can arise, such as loss of a phase, which requiresmonitoring. A simple method to monitor the utility phase and voltagebalance is to connect equal value resistors from each phase to a commonpoint, which should then be at zero volts AC relative to neutral.Detecting the residual voltage at this point provides a measure ofutility phase and voltage balance. If the measured balance value isoutside of a threshold value, a utility input fault condition isdeclared and the inverter powers down and the output relays are opened.Three small, fused control transformers remain connected to the utilityto monitor resumption within correct limits, and also supply power tothe control microprocessor and other control circuits even in theabsence of solar power at the DC input. Thus in contrast to the loadinverter, the grid-tie inverter requires a utility input in order tooperate. Without a utility input, the grid-tie inverter cannot supplyrelay control signals to combiner and DC disconnect unit of FIG. 27, andthus the DC input is disconnected at source.

The AC outputs of a single-phase or 3-phase grid-tie inverter are alsopreferably protected against voltage spikes on the utility connection.This can be done by use of gas-discharge tube surge arrestors, forexample. Such devices have instantaneous current-sinking ability ofthousands of amps, and can tolerate such currents long enough to trip a60-amp breaker, should the over-voltage transient persist. These shouldpreferably be connected between line and neutral, but in the case of adelta-connected 3-phase service with no neutral, they can be connectedbetween line and utility ground and/or line-to-line.

In summary, a 3-phase inverter according to the invention delivers threetimes the power output of a single-phase inverter using only about thesame number of components, and uses a smaller capacitor on the DC input.A 3-phase grid-tie inverter of 21.6 Kw capacity is therefore only of thesame order of complexity and cost as a 7.2 Kw single phase loadinverter.

There are many subtleties in designing such an inverter to back-feedpower to the grid. FIG. 26A shows a vector diagram pertaining to avoltage generator which is presumed to have an inductive outputimpedance and a vector output voltage of V1, connected to a utility gridof vector voltage Vo. The vector difference between (V1−Vo) between thegenerator voltage V1 and the utility voltage V2, divided by theinductive output reactance wL, determines the current flow to the grid.The current lags the voltage across the inductor L by 90 degrees;therefore in order for the current to be in phase with the grid, i.e. ahorizontal vector, the difference voltage (V1−Vo) must lead by 90degrees, i.e. be a vertical vector. Thus either the generator phase mustbe advanced from ϕ1 to ϕ2, or else the voltage must be reduced below V1in order to rotate (V1−Vo) to the vertical position, or even both thephase and the voltage must be adjusted. In the case of the grid-tieinverter, the generator voltage V1 is proportional to the array voltageand the array voltage is inversely dependent on the current taken fromthe array, which is proportional to the component of the current inphase with the utility, i.e. the projection of the current vector on thehorizontal axis. Moreover, since wL is by necessity a very smallreactance, (V1−Vo) is a very short vector, of the order of 1 to 2 volts,and the sensitivity of the current phase to changes in array voltage andthus V1 is very high. It may be deduced that changes in the generatorphase ϕ cause large changes in current magnitude while changes in arrayvoltage and thus V1 cause changes in current phase, but, to a firstorder, not its magnitude. Thus proper operation of the grid-tie inverterrequires controlling the generator phase advance relative to the utilityto adjust the current magnitude until the array is operating at adesired point, i.e. the maximum power point (MPP). One strategy is thusto advance the inverter phase (which increases the output current) ifthe array current is too low and thus the array voltage is too high, orconversely to retard the phase if the array voltage is too low becausethe current is too high. A simplified strategy is to control the phaseof the inverter such that the phase of the current is in phase with theutility, i.e. to control the inverter phase such that the voltage acrossthe inductor L has a phase that leads the utility phase by 90 degrees.If this results in too little current, such that V1 increases, theresult will be that the current will lag the utility, and the generatorphase shall then be advanced, increasing the current and reducing V1.Conversely, if the current is too high, causing V1 to reduce, thecurrent phase will advance over the utility phase and thus the inverterphase will then be retarded to bring the current into phase with theutility. Maximum power point tracking is then approximately achieved atthe same time as synchronizing the inverter to the grid.

The phase of the voltage across the inductor L1 (FIG. 15) or La,b,c(FIG. 16) which are the switch-mode smoothing inductors, is simplysensed by adding a secondary winding thereto, or else by adding asecondary winding to the following RF hash filter, and feeding thesecondary voltage to a zero-crossing phase detector. The secondarywinding senses the derivative of current The secondary voltage may thusfirst be integrated to obtain a 60 Hz current-related signal. The phasedetector simply comprises logging the count in a master clock counter atwhich a current zero crossing occurs and determining if it was early orlate. This shall be done for all three phases in a 3-phase system, andeither a mean taken, or else each phase can be separately controlledfrom its own sensor coil.

The three phase inverter of FIG. 16 is a simplified circuit, and has thecharacteristic that the DC input is not switched to connect directlywith any AC output terminal, but rather connects it through thesmoothing inductors La, Lb or Lc to one of the output terminals. Thishas the result that some of the high frequency switching waveform istransferred to the DC input, which would require a more complicated DCinput filter. FIG. 24 shows a switching arrangement to avoid this and toensure that, at the appropriate time, a DC input line that is selectedto connect to an AC output terminal is directly connected to that outputterminal, bypassing the associated smoothing inductor La, Lb or Lc.Referring to FIG. 24, in period 1 of the three-phase cycle, Phase a andPhase c are positive or zero while Phase b is negative. According to theabove-described switching logic therefore, the Phase b output terminalshall be directly connected to the DC negative input line. This is doneby turning on TR4 b to conduct. Just prior to period 1, Tr2 b wasexecuting a switching cycle with varying duty factor, the duty factorhaving just reached 100% at the beginning of the period. Thus TR2 b isalso left conducting when Tr4 b is switched on, and shares the loadcurrent with Tr4 b. At the end of period 1, phase b and phase ctransition to negative while phase a is positive. Accordingly, thephase-a output terminal shall be directly connected to the DC inputpositive line. This is done by turning on Tr3 a. Just prior to period 2,Tr1 a had been switching but had reached a 100% duty factor. ThereforeTr1 a is left 100% ON to share the load current with Tr3 a. At theactual boundary between two periods, for example at the boundary ofperiod 2 and period 3, the switches operate according to the “Tarzanprinciple”—that is, do not let go of one vine until you have hold of thenext one. Thus for an instant, Tr1 a and Tr3 a are connecting the DCpositive input line to the phase-a output terminal while TR2 c and Tr4 care connecting the DC negative line to the phase-c output terminal. Inthis way, the DC input is always anchored by either its negative line orits positive line to one of the three phase output terminals. It can bementioned that, to obtain proper relative phase of the switches takinginto account the delay through inductors La, Lb and Lc, the switchingwaveforms of Tr1 a, Tr2 a, Tr1 b, Tr2 b, Tr1 c and Tr2 c may be slightlytime-advanced relative to the switching waveforms of Tr3 a, Tr4 a, Tr3b, Tr4 b, Tr3 c and Trr4 c. This time advance corresponds to the phasingof the generator relative to the utility voltage discussed in relationto the vector diagram of FIG. 26A. Thus the phase advance of thewaveforms for switches Tr1 a,b,c and Tr2 a,b,c is adaptively controlledto make the AC output current lie in phase with the utility voltagewhile switches TR2 a,b,c, and TR4 a,b,c operate in a fixed relationshipto the utility voltage.

It can be mentioned that the testing of high power converters to confirmefficiency and adequate heat dissipation at maximum load can consume aconsiderable number of kilowatt hours. It is also difficult to measureefficiencies in the 98-99% region by measuring the input DC power andoutput AC power with different instruments. A 1% measurement inaccuracycan lead to the erroneous conclusion that an inverter is more than 100%efficient, or that it is less efficient than it really is. A preferredmethod to test an inverter is therefore to rectify the AC output with arectifier circuit especially designed to consume a sinusoidal current inphase with the voltage, and to feed the DC back into the inverter input.The inverter DC source need then only supply the difference between theinput and output power, i.e. the amount of power wasted in inefficiency,plus the rectifier circuit inefficiency. This is both a more accurateand more cost-effective way of testing inverters.

The grid-tie inverter described herein may be operated in reverse totransfer energy from an AC source to a DC load. It simply requiresprogramming the phase control circuit described above to ensure that thephase of the voltage across the series smoothing inductor is 90 degreesretarded with respect to the AC voltage. Power will then flow from theAC to the DC circuit. As illustrated in FIG. 26B, for rectifier mode,the amount of phase retard shall be controlled to produce the desiredamount of AC load current and thus rectified DC current while thevoltage V1 is controlled by adjusting the switching waveform duty factorto make the AC current in phase with the AC voltage. The same circuitarrangement can thus be used with an alternative control regime to makea rectifier which presents a linear load of low power factor to the ACsupply. This is useful for inverter testing as described above, and isalso useful for high power battery chargers for electric vehicles whereit is desired that they should present a linear load to the utility.

FIG. 18 shows the block diagram of an electrical installation employingthe first, load inverter implementation to provide a household withsolar-generated AC power. A solar array comprising one or more stringsof solar panels is installed on a south-facing roof for example, and anyexposed metallic parts other than its electrical terminals shall bereturned to ground via a grounding conductor to give some degree ofprotection against thunderstorm transients. Each string of panelsconnects to solar combiner 700 therefore using three conductors—the DCpositive, the DC negative and the grounding conductor. The preferredwiring method between a string of solar panels and the solar combiner isto use Liquidtight flexible metallic conduit (LFMC) to carry thepositive and negative lines of at least one string as well as an arraygrounding wire. The metallic sheath of the Liquidtight should also bebonded to the array frame (if metal), and the solar combiner case. thuseffectively providing a coaxial connection. Such a coaxial connection isa superior method of preventing thunderstorm transients entering intothe signal and power paths. The 2008 National Electrical Code suggestedthe use of a separate grounding rod for the array when the array wasremote from other equipment. However it was recognized that this couldbe inadvisable and that requirement was removed in the 2011 version ofthe Code. For installing systems using devices according to thisinvention, all grounding shall be routed back to the common premisesgrounding electrode system. This may consist of more than one groundingrod or electrode, however all grounding electrodes must be connectedtogether on the load center side of the inverter and no other groundshall be connected to the installation on the battery or array side ofthe ground leak detector.

As already described, solar combiner 700 selectively combines thecurrents from multiple strings of solar panels according to relaycontrol signals presented to its control port 1. Standalone inverter1000 is connected to control port 1 via an 9-conductor cable, forexample an 8-conductor-plus-braid Cat 5 cable, or a DB9 serial portcable, and controls the string selection in order to maintain thevoltage of battery 500 within desired limits. To avoid prejudicingoperation of the ground leak detection function, the braid of the Cat 5cable or ground return of a DB9 cable must not be connected to theground or any part of the DC circuit inside the combiner. The relaycoils provide this desired isolation. One method, which requiresmonitoring only the battery voltage, progressively switches out stringsof panels when the battery voltage approaches a target value. Forexample, suppose battery charging is operating in the float chargeregime where the battery voltage shall be maintained at approximately135 volts for 60 lead-acid cells in series. If the battery voltage isless than 120 volts, all strings are selected to charge it. As thevoltage approaches 135, strings are switched out depending on the rateof approach, which is determined by battery-voltage monitoring circuitthat can be contained within controller 202. For example, if the voltageis 126 volts and rising at the rate of 0.2 volts per second, it can bepredicted that the voltage will reach 135 volts in 45 seconds. Thus infive seconds, one string is switched out. If the battery voltage onesecond later is less, one more string is switched back in. If on theother hand the battery voltage continues to rise such that it will reachthe target voltage in less than 45 seconds, one more string will beswitched out. The foregoing description of float charging is merelyintended to be exemplary of all possible methods of controlling batterycharging when only monitoring battery voltage. Preferably, the batterycharge controller would also be able to monitor net battery chargecurrent. This requires a current sensor at the battery such as a verylow resistance current shunt (not shown) with a pair of dedicated wiresback to the DC-AC converter 1000, where the battery charging logic andcontrol resides.

The combined current from the selected strings is routed from solarcombiner 700 to battery 500, again using preferably LFMC to maintain acoaxial path. The trade size of Liquidtight shall be sufficient for thegauge of conductors needed for the total current of all strings, plus anequipment grounding conductor used together with as the Liquidtightmetal sheath to transport the equipment ground. Battery 500 shall behoused in a suitably ventilated enclosure to dissipate any hydrogenout-gassing safely to the outside. The housing may include a perforatedmetal or foil screen which then should be bonded to the Liquidtightsheath and the equipment grounding conductor. The 2008 NationalElectrical Code leaves it optional whether the battery wiring includesfuses. Since a large storage battery is a source of potentially hugefault current in the event of a short in the wiring, it is highlyrecommended that fuses be installed as close to the battery as possible.At least two fuses are required for this purpose. For example, one fusemay be inserted in the positive connection from the combiner 700 and asecond fuse is then inserted in the positive connection to the inverter1000. A common fuse in the battery connection must not be used, as inthe event of its blowing, the array would be left directly connected toload inverter 1000, which is an unstable arrangement. Four fuses (550)may also be used, connecting one in each of the positive and negativeconductors to and from the battery, as shown in FIG. 18.

Liquidtight flexible metallic conduit 400 or other metallic conduit isused to route the wires from battery 500 through the ground leakdetector comprised of items 800, 801 and 802 to inverter 1000. Theconduit and its enclosed positive, negative and ground conductors passin their entirety through a large, high-mu ferrite toroid 800. Asuitable toroid is Magnetics Inc. part number 4916 in W material with amu of 10000. The inner diameter of this toroid is 33 mm. Thisaccommodates trade size ¾″ LFMC. This size LFMC accommodates three #4AWG THWN-2 conductors, which are good for 95 amps continuous. Thegrounding conductor may be of a smaller gauge, for example #6. AWG.Toroid 800 is wound with about 100 turns of relatively fine wire, suchas #20 AWG, as it does not have to pass any current. This forms a 1:100voltage step-up transformer between the net current flowing in theconduit and its conductors, which should be zero if there is no groundleak on the battery/array side of the toroid. The 100-turn secondary hasan inductance of 118 mH while the effective 1-turn primary has aninductance of 11.8 uH. A 60 Hz imbalance current in the conduit of 6 mAwill cause a primary voltage of 0.0267 mV and a secondary voltage of2.67 mV. The sensitivity may be increased by adding capacitor 802 toroughly resonate the secondary inductance of 118 mH. A 60 uF capacitorresonates the inductance and also suppresses signals at other than 60Hz, such as medium wave radio stations. or nearby amateur radiotransmissions. A load resistor of 220 ohms keeps the Q-factor of theresonant circuit below 5 and thus insensitive to small componentvariations. With a Q of 5, the induced voltage due to a ground leakcurrent of 6 mA rises to 13 mV. An amplifier inside inverter amplifiesthis voltage and compares it to a threshold. If it exceeds a thresholdcorresponding to 6 mA, the inverter executes a shutdown, controlling thecombiner to the DC disconnect state and opening both the inverter ACoutput relays and the DC input power and start-up relays. Thiscompletely isolates the array from the battery and ground and thebattery from the inverter and ground, thus preventing any further groundleakage current. Thus personnel coming into contact with either DCconductor are prevented from receiving a shock of greater than 6 mA AC.Since the DC voltage for a single phase convertor is similar to the ACvoltage, this also prevents a DC current flowing of this magnitude. Thepurpose of passing both the conduit and its enclosed conductors throughthe ground leak detector toroid is so that capacitively coupled currentfrom the current-carrying conductors to the conduit, array frame orbattery box do not cause an imbalance current through the toroid whichcould reduce sensitivity or cause spurious tripping. However, there areinstances when such current due to a gross fault should be detected, aswill be described later.

A standalone solar installation may also be used in conjunction withutility power. A common form of low-cost installation is where the solarpower is routed via a transfer switch to a “subsistence panel”, which isan electrical load center that supplies power to the most importantappliances that need to be kept running in the event of utility failure.For example, the subsistence panel may feed lights, power points forTVs, radios, computers, fridge, freezer, water pump and microwave, butmay not attempt to feed heavy consuming appliances such as HVAC, tumbledryer or electric stove. The transfer switch allows either utility orsolar power to be selected to feed the subsistence panel. Other, heavierloads such as HVAC are connected to a regular load center fed only byutility power. Alternatively, a transfer panel may be used, whichcomprises a number of switches that select, for each appliance orcircuit, whether they take their power from the utility or the solarpanels. The transfer switches can be left in a position wherein thetotal normal load may be handled continuously by the solar array/batterycombination with typically expected hours of sunlight, while preservingthe ability to temporarily feed any other appliances from the solarsystem should an emergency need arise, or feed any load from utility inthe event of a prolonged period without sun.

Existing transfer panels tend to be of one of two types: Either theytransfer all loads from one supply to the other, manually orautomatically, which assumes the alternate supply is a generatorpowerful enough to take the whole load, or of a second type that canmanually transfer each circuit independently. The per-circuit type doesnot seem to be readily available with automatic load transfer switching,possibly because no criteria had existed for transferring only someloads and not others. Moreover, the per-circuit type generally comprisestwo sets of circuit breakers, one set for the utility supply and asecond set for the alternate supply. A transfer switch may be connectedafter the breakers, or else the breaker pairs may be mechanicallyinterconnected such that when one of a pair is on, the other is off.Changes to the Electrical Code in 2008 however required the use ofarc-fault breakers (AFCIs) on many circuits, such as bedroom circuits,and many of the remaining circuits use GFCI breakers. AFCI and GFCIcircuit breakers are more expensive, so the aforementioned per-circuittransfer switch load center would now be significantly more costly,since it would require two AFCIs or GFCIs per circuit. Accordingly thereis a need for a more economic form of per-circuit load transferswitching for intelligent load management. The outline of a smarttransfer panel 3000 that provides intelligent load management is shownin FIG. 22.

In FIG. 22, in contrast to the two power busses that normally extenddown the center of the panel and into which circuit breakers areconnected, there are now four power busbars—two for solar power and twofor utility power. Quadruple busbar 3009 is sized to handle 60 amps oneach solar input lug L1 and L2 (3001) and 60 amps on each utility powerinput lug L1 and L2 (3002). The panel of FIG. 22 is intended to be asub-panel and is fed from a 60 A, two-pole breaker in the main servicepanel. The solar input derives from solar inverter 1000 and is alreadycurrent limited. A phase-splitting auto-transformer may be used withinverter 1000 to provide the two anti-phase hot legs L1 and L2 (3001).The transformer need only handle about half the power output of theinverter, if load is evenly balanced between L1 and L2. In a largerinstallation, two load inverters synchronized 180 degrees out-of-phaseand two battery banks can be installed to provide 7.2 Kw on each of L1and L2. One array can be used with combiner 700 to charge both batterybanks alternately, or else two isolated sub-arrays may be used, as it isnot possible to power two anti-phased inverters from the same arraywithout additional isolating devices that cause a few percent additionalefficiency loss. When one array and combiner 700 is used with twoinverters, each inverter may be given first priority control over halfof the strings and second priority control over the other half of thestrings. Single Pole, Double Throw (SPDT) relays 3003 are used to selectpower either from one of the solar power busbars or from a utility powerbusbar. Each Group of 8 relays may be driven by a relay driver chip suchas the aforementioned Texas Instruments part number TPL9201. The circuitbreakers (3004) on one side are wired to select solar power in theunenergized state while the circuit breakers (3005) on the other sideare wired to select utility power in the unenergized state. On eachside, the breakers alternate between selecting L1 and L2, such that apair of adjacent slots may be used for a double pole (240-volt) circuitsuch as a well pump or dryer. The source of power selected by each relay3003 is routed to its associated breaker through a toroidal core 3008upon which a secondary is wound to provide a current sensor for eachcircuit. The current sensor outputs connect to one or more coherentmeasuring chips such as the aforementioned Analog Devices part numberADE7753 which provides a microprocessor interface for reading current,voltage, power and power factor. The 16 current sensors may bemultiplexed to a single ADE7753 using analog multiplexers and measuredsequentially approximately once every one or two seconds. This issufficiently frequent to capture most circuit on/off switching activityand give a reasonable measure of average power consumption per circuit.The relay coils may be wired to relay driver circuits such as TexasInstrument part number TPL9201. These also have microprocessorinterfaces that permit a microprocessor to control the relays. Amicroprocessor board (not shown) has inputs for the current sensorsignals, power from both solar and utility via small controltransformers, interfaces with any user controls and displays and withexternal computers such as a PC, and provides control signals to therelays. Software then implements the intelligence to manage the loads,examples of which are as follows.

The user or installer may set up the smart transfer panel uponinstallation either via front panel push buttons or by connecting to aPC which can provide a more user-friendly interface. Set up may includeinitializing a time-of-day clock, determining from which source eachload normally derives its power and setting the criterion for changingthe selection. For example, each circuit can be programmed to be one of:

1. Always solar, never utility

2. Normally solar, priority 1; utility back up

3. Normally solar, priority 2; utility back up

4. Normally utility; priority 1 for solar back up

5. Normally utility, priority 2 for solar back up

6. Always utility, never solar

The above list is not intended to be exhaustive, and there may be otherregimes, such as different selection depending on time of day, more thantwo priorities, etc. The purpose of priorities is to anticipate what theuser would ultimately want to do in the case of a long utility outageand lack of sun. In the limit when energy runs out, it will be necessaryto shed load in order to prioritize the most important appliances. Forexample, lights could have first priority during the evening andnighttime while well pump, computer and cordless telephone power outletshad first priority for solar energy in daytime. These time-of-daydependent algorithms may be built in with the help of a real time clockchip or software program so that the operation that the user would wishwill be automatic if the occasion arises.

The smart transfer panel may also communicate with inverter 1000 toreceive information on the availability of solar power, which can dependon the state of the battery, which is monitored by the load inverter. Ifutility power is available, i.e. there is no outage requiring emergencypower from solar for loads that would normally be powered from theutility, then it is desirable that the battery would not normally bedischarged to a depth of more than 20% in any day. Therefore, if thebattery reaches a threshold depth of discharge that should not beexceeded except in an emergency, the inverter can inform the smarttransfer panel to begin shedding load from solar and transferring loadto the utility. On the other hand, if utility power fails, those loadswould instantly be transferred back to solar and the battery would bepermitted to be fully discharged. Before full discharge is reachedhowever, at some intermediate point load would start to be shedaccording to the pre-programmed order of priorities.

One feature of the software can be that the smart transfer panelattempts to avoid relay switching under load, in order to maximizecontact life. If transferring power from one source to another is not aninstantaneous imperative, the current sensors can provide an indicationof a low-load period in which to perform load transfer. In addition, theinverter 1000 may be provided with a 60 Hz synchronizing pulse from thetransfer panel so that power transfer is phase-synchronous andsubstantially glitch-free.

The smart transfer panel preferably also has an interface for a PC, forexample, an RS232 interface. A wireless interface using Bluetooth orWiFi is also conceivable. The PC interface circumvents the limit on theamount of program memory that it is economic or sensible to attach to asmall microprocessor such as is envisaged to be included in the smarttransfer panel. Coupling to an external PC allows the PC to hostadditional software and provide full keyboard, mouse and display userinterfaces, color graphics and suchlike. It can also, via the internet,allow remote monitoring or maintenance of an installation, and hasaccess to the entire internet as a resource. For example, weatherforecasts received from the internet can help anticipate solarirradiation (insolation) and manage the energy consumption accordingly.Historical records of insolation by season or date are also available onthe internet for such purposes. The PC interface can also display to theuser his energy consumption on each circuit and how much derived fromsolar and utility respectively, as well as these usages versus time ofday, day of week, month, season or year. Thus the use of a smarttransfer panel in a hybrid solar/utility power installation can providemany benefits as well as the tools to manage energy consumption forgreater economy.

The sizing of a standalone system is more critical than the sizing of agrid-interactive system, as sufficient power must be provided for themaximum load in the season of minimum insolation, but then the excess iswasted at other times of lower load or higher insolation. A hybridsolar/utility installation with a smart transfer panel and load centeras just described relaxes the need to avoid undersizing the solar sourceand helps to use excess power, but does not derive great benefit fromoversizing. To derive benefit from much larger solar arrays, it caneither be arranged to power some of the heavier house loads such as HVACto beneficially absorb excess solar power, or else a grid-tie invertercan be added to return excess power to the grid. Firstly, a systemhaving only grid-inter-tie will be described with the aid of FIG. 17.

The grid-tie installation shown in FIG. 17 has been deliberately drawnto emphasize the similarity with the standalone installation of FIG. 18.The most noticeable difference is the absence of the battery 500 of FIG.17, and the use of grid-interactive inverter 2200 (single phase version,as illustrated in FIG. 15) as opposed to the standalone inverter 1000.The array now connects directly to the grid-interactive inverter 2200,which, since it is the only user of the array power, connects tocombiner priority 1 output and priority 1 control port. The connectionto the control port is used to provide a remotely-activated DCdisconnect function.

The single-phase grid-interactive inverter impresses substantially thesame common-mode signal of the same 60 Hz frequency on to the DCconductors as the standalone inverter, and thus the same ground leakdetector (800, 801, 802) can be used. It is alternatively possible touse a 60 Hz AC, two-pole GFI breaker on the AC output, the two breaker“line” poles being used unconventionally for the hot and neutral whilethe pigtail and breaker neutral are used to convey the equipment groundto the solar system. This arrangement requires that the breaker beinstalled in a special sub-panel that is wired in the above way, and notin the main service panel (4030). Alternatively the breaker may bepre-wired into converter 2200.

The ground leak detector comprised of items 800, 801, 802 measures theimbalance current between the DC positive line, the DC negative line andthe ground line including the encircling conduit. To do this, theconduit and its entire set of contained conductors passes through thecenter of the toroid. Currents caused on the ground conductor or in theconduit by capacitive coupling of the AC ground-leak probe signals fromthe DC conductors are thereby balanced out and do not cause falsetripping or adversely affect the ground-leak detection sensitivity. Highsensitivity may thereby be achieved for the purposes of protectingpersonnel from shock. For this function, the array end of the conduitand the array frame must not be connected to any local ground, butshould only be grounded via the metallic conduit and the groundingconductor contained therein back through the leak detector to the mainsystem ground.

Current solar systems ignore personnel shock risks and employ groundleak detectors on the DC side purely to warn of malfunction and toprotect against excessive currents. For example, in some systems, theconduit and grounding conductor contained therein may be connected by afuse to the main system ground, which blows in the event of a short tothe conduit or other grounded metal part, such as the array frame,leaving the array and conduit ungrounded. The inverter must switch offunder such circumstances and both DC conductors must be disconnected toisolate the DC circuit and prevent current flow. A warning sign must beplaced at appropriate locations warning that, in the event of a groundfault being indicated, conductors that are normally grounded may nolonger be grounded and may be at hazardous potentials.

Using the inventive ground leak detection principle described herein, animproved form of protection of the DC circuit from excessive currentsmay be contrived. By using a second toroidal core, the DC conductors maybe passed through the core without passing the conduit and groundingconductor through the core. Upon occurrence of a ground fault, the ACprobe signal current in the ground conductor passing around the outsideof the core will not cancel the AC probe current in the DC conductors,but will enhance the coupling to the toroid secondary, thus providing astrong, easily detectable signal in the secondary indicative of a grossground fault that is easily distinguished by its much larger magnitudefrom capacitive currents. This indication may be detected in theinverter and causes it to immediately shut down, opening the inputrelays in the DC circuit, the output relays in the AC output circuit andremoving the relay drive signals to the remote-controlled combiner andDC disconnect. Both variations of the ground leak detector areillustrated in insets A and B of FIG. 17. Inset A shows the conduit aswell as the DC+ and − conductors passing through the toroid, while insetB show only the DC conductors passing through the toroid. The former (A)can detect very small leakage currents to ground other than the conduitor equipment ground on the array side of the detector, while the lattercan detects heavier ground leaks from the DC conductors to the conduitor equipment ground.

When ground leak detectors as just described are used, the AC output ofinverter 2200 is wired to a single-pole, 60 A breaker (4040) in the mainservice panel (4030) or in a conventional sub-panel which connects tothe main service panel. The main service panel (4030) houses the main ACdisconnect for the solar system. When the AC disconnect is operated, theanti-islanding protection required by specification UL1741 operates andshuts down inverter (2200); this in turn removes control power fromcontrol port 1 of combiner (700) causing the DC disconnect relays toopen. An OFF switch on the inverter can also be used to operate the DCdisconnect function, as can a switch locally at combiner 700.

In the grid-tie system of FIG. 17, array 1500 may need to output ahigher DC voltage than in the standalone system of FIG. 18. If thestandalone system of FIG. 18 uses a nominally 120-volt battery, floatcharged at say 135 volts, then the array should deliver powerefficiently at 135 volts. It may also be required to deliver a voltagesomewhere in the range 140 to 144 volts for bulk, absorption andequalization charging. A fuller discussion of array-to-system voltagematching is given later in connection with implementing bimodal systems.

The main service panel of a residential system receives its power from,in the USA, a split-phase 120/240-volt single-phase service drop orservice lateral. (4010). The service drop usually comprises threewires—two 120 volt rms hots 180 degrees out-of-phase with each other,and a neutral. The neutral is likely already grounded at the utilitypole transformer or pad-mounted transformer, but is also bonded in themain service panel to the local grounding system provided by groundingelectrode 1010. The two hots from the service drop pass through themeter to the main service panel.

One of two possible metering regimes may be used.

In “net metering”, other building loads are supplied by other breakercircuits from main service panel (4030), and the meter clocks up the netdifference between power imported to power the loads and power exportedfrom grid-tie inverter (2200).

In “dual metering”, a separate export meter is connected betweengrid-tie inverter (2200) and the service drop. Thus the service drop(4010) may feed two main service panels through two meters—one for powerimported and one for power exported. Power exported may be remuneratedat a lower or higher rate per kilowatt hour than power imported ischarged, as distinct from net metering, which provides a one-to-oneoffset of imported power by exported power.

FIG. 17 shows a single-phase system typical of a residentialinstallation. However, using 3-phase versions of the inverter that havebeen explained above using FIGS. 16, 23, 24 and 26, a connection to athree phase service drop can be made. Typically in the USA, the 3-phaseservice drop would be a 120/208 volt service, but with suitable voltagescaling, an array and inverter can be adapted to a European 240 volt,single phase service, a European 240/416 3-phase service, a US277/480-volt service or even a US 120/240-208 volt split-phase plus3-phase service having a 208-volt “high leg”. It is preferred to connecta grid-tie system to the lowest available service voltage in order tominimize the maximum DC voltage of the array for reasons of personnelsafety. When a 120/208 3-phase connection is used, the array voltagesare nominally 294 volts between the positive and negative DC lines and147 volts from each to ground. The shock potential from a 147-volt toground DC line is much less than that of a 120-volt AC line.

Because the grid-tie system of FIG. 17 is the simplest and lowest costto provide, it is the fastest growing type of solar electricinstallation. However, many people are surprised and disappointed tolearn that, if the utility fails, they do not have power. This is partlybecause of the anti-islanding requirement, but also due to the absenceof the battery, which is required to stabilize the array voltage whenthe load is variable. Consequently it is of interest to be able toconstruct or upgrade either FIG. 17 or FIG. 18 to a “bimodal system”which provides both grid tie and battery back-up.

There are many ways to construct a bimodal system. A bimodal invertercannot necessarily operate in both modes simultaneously, although theXANTREX SW4012, 4024 and 4048 can be integrated very well to provideboth modes of operation and automatically switch between the twoappropriately. One way to use the inventive inverters of thisapplication to construct a bimodal system would be to install twoseparate systems according to FIGS. 17 and 18 respectively. However, itis desirable to share parts such as the array 1500, the combiner 700,the DC wiring, (400), the ground leak detector(s) (800, 801, 802) and soforth. FIG. 19 shows a bimodal system sharing these common parts. Sincethe single-phase grid-tie inverter employs an array voltage of 170 voltsand the standalone system requires 135-144 volts for battery charging, adiscussion of array voltages, efficiencies and how both requirements canbe satisfied is appropriate. Of course, one solution is to operate thestandalone inverter at 170 volts, as was shown above to be perfectlyfeasible to include during its design, but then a 168 volt batterycomprising 14, 12-volt units in series would be required, instead of theten mentioned previously to achieve 120 volts. This would have theadvantage of providing 16.8 kilowatt hours of back-up capacity, but atgreater cost. There is another argument however that can be used toreconcile different DC voltage requirements of the standalone andgrid-tie inverters.

First of all, the voltage-current characteristics of solar cells will beexplained with the aid of FIGS. 20A and 20B.

FIG. 20A shows that a photovoltaic cell is a current source ofphotocurrent I1 in parallel with an intrinsic diode D1. In the absenceof an external load, the photocurrent flows through the diode in theforward-biased direction causing the diode to develop a potential acrossits terminals which is equal to the typical voltage drop of a forwardbiased diode of around 0.6 volts. Whatever the technology, diode I-Vcurves are given by Shockley's equation:I(V,T)=Isat[exp(βqV/kT)−1]  (1)where I(V,T) is the current at voltage V and temperature T; Isat is thediode saturation voltage (leakage current when reverse biased); q is thecharge on an electron; k is Boltzman's constant; T is absolutetemperature in degrees Kelvin, and β is an ideality factor which isbetween 55% and 80% i.e. 0.55 to 0.88 for silicon diodes.

At 25 degrees C., kT/q is about 26 millivolts, so the equation (1)simplifies toI(V)=Isat[exp(βV/0.026)−1]  (2)

If the solar cell of FIG. 20A is shorted, the diode voltage will be zeroand will take no current, so all of the photocurrent I1 comes out. Thisis by definition the short circuit current Isc of the cell. When thesolar cell is now open circuited, the current Isc flows into the diodewhich is therefore the value of I(V) given by equation 2, and which canbe inverted to give V, now the open circuit voltage of the solar cellVoc, as:Voc=(0.026/β)Log_(e)(Isc/Isat+1)  (3)

Since Isc and Voc are externally measurable, the values measured at 25degrees C. in full sun, known as Standard Test Conditions, may besubstituted in equation (3) to obtain the unknown Isat for the diode asIsat=Isc/[exp(βVoc/0.026)−1]  (4)

Now substituting for Isat in equation 2, the diode current at any othervoltage V is found to beI(V)=Isc[exp(βV/0.026)−1]/[[exp(βVoc/0.026)−1]  (5)

The current output by the solar cell is the photocurrent Isc minus thediode current, that is

$\begin{matrix}{{Iout} = {{{Isc}\left\lbrack {1 - {\left\{ {{\exp\left( {\beta\;{V/0.026}} \right)} - 1} \right\}/\left\{ {{\exp\left( {\beta\;{{Voc}/0.026}} \right)} - 1} \right\}}} \right\rbrack} = {\left\lbrack {1 - {\exp\left\{ {{\beta\left( {V - {Voc}} \right)}/0.026} \right\}}} \right\rbrack/\left\lbrack {1 - {\exp\left\{ {{- \beta}\;{{Voc}/0.026}} \right\}}} \right\rbrack}}} & (6)\end{matrix}$

A typical monocrystalline silicon solar panel in current productioncomprising 72 series connected cells has the following characteristics:

Maximum Power 195 watts

open circuit voltage Voc=45 volts

short circuit current Isc=5.45 amps

voltage at maximum power Vmp=38.3 volts

Current at maximum power Imp=5.09 amps

From the above, the per-cell voltages may be deduced as

Voc=45/72=0.625 and Vmp=0.532

Substituting in equation 6, the whole I-V curve of this cell may becomputed and the voltage scale multiplied by 72 to give the whole I-Vcurve for the panel. The power may also be plotted by computing theproduct of I and V. This is shown in the curves of FIG. 20B. It is foundthat these highly efficient cells have an ideality factor of about 74%and a light-to-electricity conversion efficiency over 18%.

The diode voltage of a photovoltaic cell exhibits the same temperaturecoefficient of −2.16 mV per degree C. as other silicon diodes. Solarpanels are deliberately exposed to full sun and therefore tend to riseabove the Standard Test Conditions temperature of 25 degrees C. whenfully illuminated in the summer. Typically, they might reach 50 degreesC., so the open circuit voltage VOC will drop by 25×2.16 mV per cell or3.9 volts for a 72-cell panel. At the coldest winter temperatures, say−15 degrees C., the Voc of the panel may rise by 6.2 volts. These twoextremes are plotted in FIG. 20C. If four of these panels are strung inseries, it can be seen that, at the high temperature extreme, thevoltage range 132-144 volts, which is the exact range desired forbattery charging, is around the peak power point, and peak power isabout 175 watts. If the array is loaded to the same voltage range at thelow temperature extreme, the power is in the range 180-197 watts perpanel. For the single-phase grid interactive inverter requirement of 170volts however, four series panels are not enough at the highesttemperature, although they would be perfect at the low temperatureextreme. If on the other hand 5 panels are strung in series, the 170volts required for the grid-tie inverter lies at the maximum power pointof about 175 watts per panel at the high temperature extreme, while thebattery float charge voltage of 135 volts is sub-optimum, at about 145watts per panel.

In such a bimodal system, the economic benefit is primarily obtained bythe grid-tie system using net metering or dual metering. The purpose ofthe battery and standalone inverter is purely to provide back-up in theevent of a utility outage. Therefore little energy is normally drawnfrom the battery system and the array is only used to keep the batteryfloat charged, for which it is sufficient that the combiner 700occasionally divert one panel from grid-tie to battery chargemaintenance. Therefore the efficiency of battery charging from the arrayis unimportant, and the array voltage should be optimized for bestgrid-tie operation. Five of the illustrative panels would therefore beused in series per string. to provide a maximum power point at 170 voltsat maximum cell temperature, and upon diverting a string for thepurposes of battery float charging, the diverted string would be loadeddown to the slightly less optimum voltage range of 120-140 volts.

The bimodal system of FIG. 19 thus comprises a nominally 170 volt array1500 that operates at its most efficient point when driving the grid-tieinverter. Each string of the array is selectively combined by combiner700 either to feed the grid-tie inverter or to charge the battery. Thebattery is connected to the priority 1 output port of combiner 700 andstandalone converter (1000) controls the string selection for batterycharging via control port 1. Strings not selected for battery chargingare available to be selected by the grid-tie inverter 2200, which wouldusually select all available strings. Thus there are two combinedoutputs from combiner 700 each comprising a DC positive and a DCnegative conductor. These four, high current conductors are containedwithin the same conduit in order to pass together through the same DCleak detector (800, 801, 802). The DC leak detector may be provided witha second winding to feed detectors in both the grid tie inverter and thestandalone inverter, as both will have such detectors built in. Thisprovides continued ground leak detection, should one or other inverterbe taken our of service or switched off. Standalone converter 1000provides a single hot leg of 7.2 Kw which is split into two anti-phasehot legs by autotransformer 1700, to permit the driving of 240-voltloads as well as 120-volt loads. These two solar-derived hot legsconnect to busses 3001 of Smart Load Center 3000. DC power for grid tieinverter 2200 is split off after the ground leak detector. The AC outputof grid-tie inverter 2200 connects to a 60 A single-pole breaker in theservice panel, or a suitable sub-panel fed from the main service panel.The service panel (or suitable sub-panel) also houses a two-pole breakersupplying utility power to Smart Load Center 3000.

FIG. 19 shows a communication and synchronization buss connecting theSmart Load center 3000, grid-tie inverter 2200 and standalone inverter1000. The communications buss 1750 employs opto-isolators at thereceiving ends to avoid creating ground loops, and serves the followingfunctions:

(1) A grid derived 60 Hz sync pulse is supplied to standalone inverter1000, of such phase that both grid-tie inverter 2200 and standaloneinverter 1000 are connecting their respective negative DC inputterminals to neutral at the same time, thereby ensuring that the phaseof the common mode ground-leak probe signal is the same for both. Thisis not an essential requirement for operation, but considered desirable.Moreover, it is desirable to synchronize inverter 1000 with the utilitygrid to facilitate glitch-free changeover from utility to solar by SmartLoad Center 3000.

(2) Inverter 1000 can communicate the availability of solar/batterypower to Smart Load Center 3000 in order to implement prioritizedload-shedding in the event of a prolonged utility outage.

(3) Smart Load Center 3000 can receive status flags from both inverters1000 and 2200 and periodic reports of current delivered to the grid frominverter 2200, so that, in addition to battery status from inverter 1000and AC circuit current measurements from its own per-circuit currentsensors, all information may be collated for communication if desired toa PC via an RS232 connection, and to receive commands from a PC forremote control of the system via more user-friendly software. It is notenvisaged that high data rates would be needed on buss 1750, and a baudrate of 60 bauds is envisaged between units 1000, 3000 and 2200.

It has thus been described above how a variety of useful solar energysystems can be put together using different combinations of a smallnumber of novel equipment designs. While other industries are competingto reduce the cost of solar panels, soon to be under $1/watt, theinventive inverters and system integration techniques described hereinpermit commensurate reductions of other main components andbalance-of-system components in order to drive down the totalinstallation cost of a solar system to levels where the economics ofsolar energy become compelling. A person skilled in the art may use theteachings described herein to make various modifications to detail ormay configure a variety of systems, while remaining within the scope ofthe invention as described by the following claims

I claim:
 1. A remote-controlled photovoltaic string combiner operativeto selectively combine current generated by each of a plurality ofstrings of photovoltaic panels into one or more combined outputcurrents, comprising: first positive and negative combiner outputterminals operative to output a first combined current to one or morefirst loads; a connection or communication interface to a remotecontroller circuit; and a plurality of per-string circuits, eachcomprising positive and negative input terminals operative to receivecurrent from a corresponding photovoltaic string; first positive andnegative output terminals connected to the first combiner outputterminals; a first relay connected to the input terminals and havingnormally-open terminals connected to the first output terminals, thefirst relay operative to deliver current from the input terminals to thefirst output terminals when energized by a first control signal from thecontroller circuit, and to inhibit current from the input terminalsreaching the first output terminals when not energized by the firstcontrol signal; wherein the remote controller circuit outputs a separatefirst control signal for each per-string circuit, thereby selectivelycombining current from none, some, or all of the photovoltaic stringsinto the first combined output current; and a first ganged switchinterposed between the remote controller circuit and the stringcombiner, the first ganged switch operative to interrupt all firstcontrol signals such that no photovoltaic string outputs current to thefirst combiner output.
 2. The remote-controlled string combiner of claim1, further comprising: second positive and negative combiner outputterminals operative to output a second combined current to one or moresecond loads; and wherein each per-string circuit further comprisessecond positive and negative output terminals connected to the secondcombiner output terminals; and a second relay connected tonormally-closed terminals of the first relay and having normally-openterminals connected to the second output terminals, the second relayoperative to deliver current from the first relay to the second outputterminals when the first relay is not energized by the first controlsignal and the second relay is energized by a second control signal fromthe controller circuit, and to inhibit current from the first relayreaching the second output terminals when the first relay is notenergized by the first control signal and the second relay is notenergized by the second control signal; wherein the remote controllercircuit outputs a separate second control signal for each per-stringcircuit, thereby selectively combining current from none, some, or allof the photovoltaic strings which are not selected to provide current tothe first combined output, into the second combined output current. 3.The remote-controlled string combiner of claim 2 wherein each per-stringcircuit further comprises positive and negative terminals of a testport; and wherein normally-closed terminals of the second relay areconnected to the test port terminals; wherein the connected photovoltaicstring voltage and current are present at the test port when both thefirst and second control signals are not asserted to energize therespective relays.
 4. The remote-controlled string combiner of claim 1wherein each per-string circuit further comprises: fuses interposedbetween the input terminals and the first relay; and a snubber circuitinterposed between the fuses and the first relay, the snubber circuitcomprising a capacitor in series with a parallel connection of a firstdiode and resistor, shunted between the positive and negativeconductors, and operative to protect the relay inputs from inrushcurrent and arcing upon making or breaking; and a blocking diodeconnected to the positive relay input terminal, and operative to preventreverse current flow to the connected photovoltaic string.
 5. Theremote-controlled string combiner of claim 4, wherein the blocking diodeis operative to prevent one or more shadowed photovoltaic strings fromrobbing current from illuminated photovoltaic strings.
 6. Theremote-controlled string combiner of claim 4, wherein the blocking diodeis operative to limit reverse inrush current from the first combineroutput terminals when the first relay is energized and the firstcombiner output terminals are already energized from one or more otherper-string circuits.
 7. The remote-controlled string combiner of claim 1configured to be used as a battery charge controller by remotelyselecting the photovoltaic string currents to be combined based on thecharge state of a battery connected to the first combiner outputterminals.
 8. The remote-controlled string combiner of claim 1 whereinthe combiner is disposed physically proximate the photovoltaic panels.9. The remote-controlled string combiner of claim 8 wherein a remotecontroller circuit is disposed remotely from the combiner andphotovoltaic panels, and provides separate first control signals foreach per-string circuit via a cable or communication interface.
 10. Theremote-controlled string combiner of claim 1 wherein the first gangedswitch is disposed at or proximate a service entrance for power from anelectric utility to a facility.
 11. The remote-controlled stringcombiner of claim 1 further comprising a second ganged switch in serieswith the first ganged switch, such that actuation of either switch isoperative to interrupt all first control signals such that nophotovoltaic string outputs current to the first combiner output. 12.The remote-controlled string combiner of claim 7 wherein the combiner ismounted on or near an interior side of a sun-facing roof havingphotovoltaic panels mounted on the exterior side thereof, and furthercomprising a DC to AC inverter operative to convert DC power generatedby the photovoltaic panels to AC power; and wherein the remotecontroller circuit is within or connected to the DC to AC inverter, suchthat, when the DC to AC inverter is off, no first control signals areasserted and hence no photovoltaic string is selected to be combined tothe first combiner output terminals.
 13. The remote-controlled stringcombiner of claim 12, wherein: the one or more first loads receiving thefirst combined output current comprises a rechargeable storage batteryconnected to the DC to AC inverter; and the DC to AC inverter isoperative to monitor the charge state of the battery and control thefirst control signals to select more or fewer of the photovoltaicstrings to be combined to first combined output current, based on thecharge state of the battery.
 14. The remote-controlled string combinerof claim 13 further comprising a Smart Load Center operative to receiveboth AC power from the DC to AC inverter and AC power from an electricutility grid, and wherein the Smart Load Center is operative to select,on a per-circuit breaker basis, whether a branch circuit protected byeach circuit breaker receives power from the DC to AC inverter or fromthe utility grid, based at least in part on the first combined currentoutput by the remote-controlled photovoltaic string combiner.
 15. Theremote-controlled string combiner of claim 2, further comprising a firstDC to AC inverter operative to convert DC power generated by thephotovoltaic panels to AC power; a first rechargeable battery connectedto the first combiner output terminals, and operative to provide DCpower to the first DC to AC inverter; a second DC to AC inverteroperative to convert DC power generated by the photovoltaic panels to ACpower; a second rechargeable battery connected to the second combineroutput terminals, and operative to provide DC power to the second DC toAC inverter; wherein the remote controller circuit is distributedbetween the first and second DC to AC inverters, such that the first DCto AC inverter has priority control over a first group of photovoltaicstrings and secondary control over a second group comprising theremaining photovoltaic strings, and the second DC to AC inverter haspriority control over the second group of photovoltaic strings andsecondary control over the first group of photovoltaic strings.
 16. Amethod of enabling the rapid de-energizing of DC wiring connecting asolar array to one or more loads, comprising: disposing a photovoltaicstring combiner proximate to the solar array; connecting each of aplurality of strings of photovoltaic cells of the solar array to aseparate pair of input terminals of the photovoltaic string combiner;connecting a single pair of output terminals of the photovoltaic stringcombiner to the one or more loads; wherein within the photovoltaicstring combiner, each pair of input terminals is connected to a separaterelay having a separate associated control signal, and normally-openoutput terminals of all of the relays are connected to the combineroutput terminals, such that input currents from the photovoltaic stringsfor which the connected relays are energized by their associated controlsignals are combined at the combiner output terminals, and such that noinput current from any photovoltaic string reaches the combiner outputterminals unless at least one of the relays is energized by itsassociated control signal; routing the plurality of control signals froma remotely disposed control circuit to the photovoltaic string combiner;and providing at least one ganged switch in the control signal routing,allowing all control signals to be interrupted, thus forcing all relaysto be de-energized, and disconnecting all photovoltaic strings from thecombiner output terminals.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein routingthe plurality of control signals and providing at least one gangedswitch in the control signal routing comprises routing the controlsignals and providing ganged switches such that a switch operative tode-energize the photovoltaic string combiner output terminals isdisposed at: the photovoltaic string combiner; one or more loadsconnected to the photovoltaic string combiner output terminals; and aservice entrance for power from an electric utility.